DreamyAJ

Someone just gave me some pot -- I buy good stuff from him and this is just leaf and trim that he let me have for free. Unfortunately, it has a very unpleasant odor, not like the stuff I have bought, and also it seems to be moldy. What does the smell indicate? It's a very skunky smell. The bud he sold me before has a nice healthy green smell. Is smoking moldy pot OK? I tried some of it and it seems to be pretty potent. Since I mostly use pot for my medical condition I want to make sure it's OK.

HillBilly

Howdy Dreamy AJ!

I am making assumptions here, ok.. If someone (especially your dealer) GIVES you a sack o' pot, chances are it's the stuff he/she doesn't want to smoke themself. Most growers / dealers dont want to waste time with leaf and trim, but if it's viable, they'll probably roll blunts, make hash, or other things with it.

Mold can thrive on cannabis. It's moist, and has nutrients for mold to grow. It can very well make you sick. From personal experience, I've vomited from moldy pot.. Thought I could be a tough guy and handle it.. didn't have enough $$ for a better bag. I was wrong, puked my toenails up. Almost like food-poisioning symptoms...

If it was free, you're not missing anything by throwing it away. Skunky = good..... Moldy = bad. I'd toss it.

~~hb

0x000001A4

Moldy pot is bad....mkayyyyyy....


Like HillBilly said, it can make you pretty stomach sick if you smoke it. You can also give yourself some pretty nasty respiratory/sinus problems from it. The good lord knows I've gotten too many sinus infections from bad pot. A lovely variety of molds and funguses can grow on pot. Usually for these molds to grow your pot needs to be pretty moist when you buy it. If its already dried out when you get it, the chances of it getting moldy are pretty low. Sorta like bread, when you buy bread its moist, if you leave it sit in the bag for weeks it'll go moldy. I understand the same thing applies to weed.

To see if its moldy you can check for black spots, white/grey stringy weblike matter, dark green spots, etc etc. Moldy pot will smell musty and pretty nasty. There are a few molds that show up as bright green when held under a UV lamp. It can be easy to mistake mold for the crystalline structures that naturally grow on marijuana. They are natural to marijuana, they're a crystalline structure and appear as white crystals on the marijuana itself. The key there is WEBLIKE material. White/Grey mold is usually very webby.

Lighting the pot (with a lighter) will most likely NOT kill the fungi (highly resistant to heat). Waterpipes have been shown to reduce mold/fungi counts by only 15%.

In conclusion, throw it out. It wont give you any serious medical problems if you smoke it (unless you're immunosuppressed with AIDS or a medication that causes immunosuppression), in other words, if you're immune system is not in good shape, you can give yourself some problems with infection.

420Forever

I recall reading an article on moldy MJ...I believe it was on the Lycaeum...but the site seems to be down now.

Anyways, in the article I believe I remember it mentioning someone who buried their stash, which as a result became moldy...and then developed pneumonia (??) presumably from smoking it. I don't remember it that well...I'll look for it sometime elsewhere.

420Forever

Here's an alternate link to the article I was thinking of... http://dope.org/drugs/marijuana/misc/moldy.weed

DreamyAJ

Since we had a lot of this stuff, we thought we'd try to salvage it. My husband spread it out on a cookie sheet and left it in a well-ventilated room for a couple of days. That dried it slightly and the taste improved. We have been smoking it with no ill effects so I think it's OK.

Thanks for your responses, guys, I appreciate it!

fastfry01

I ran across the same problem with nearly a half lb. of some amazing stuff. I have dried it and changed the bags it was in (it is all in 1/2oz bags). I had let it set in the bags still damp and could not get to it for a couple days. I have had no ill side effects from smoking but try to pick the cleanest possible buds. I’m wondering if dousing the buds in alcohol would kill the mold and destroy any left over spores without damaging the THC. Alcohol evaporates quickly, specially rubbing alcohol so if it were applied to a bud, anyone think it could kill the mold and safely evaporate leaving safer and mold free buds?