Grove Bags Review
Wassup GR420, I've been playing with grove bags for the latest harvest. I purchased 10 of each size for the points store so have a few of each laying around. I decided to test 4 sizes, 2 of each, 1 of each of the 2 heat sealed. Wait 2 weeks and start to open and smell and test the bud within. At the same time, I have buds curing in my normal large smell-proof bags and I've also got some in the "I Love Mary Jane" glass jars. So the plan is to open a grove bag each week after a 2-week wait, totaling 10 weeks.
Initial thoughts
The bags look good, the grips aren't as good as id like or seen on smell-proof type bags. The website says something about turkey bags and the static/way they attract trichomes. These Grove bags are magnets for everything, at least on the outside. From fingerprints, dog air, and dust. They look well made, the printing is smart.
On the website they tell you how to use their bags, and that you need to get your bud to the perfect ranges, humidity, and moisture content. All good advice, but in all my years I've never heard the moisture content or of anyone using meters to get that right. I'm not saying it's not correct, I'm even going to invest in one and have a test. I have 2 issues with this, the chances of hitting the perfect range of humidity and water content are going to be tricky, and the price of a moisture meter. They go from £10 - to hundreds. Which is the one to use? If I cant afford to the big expensive one, could it be wrong, could that be the reason the weed did or didn't cure properly, the moisture was out by x amount but the humidity level was spot on, is that why the weed dont taste right... You see the issue, how long is a piece of string.
The above is setting up any excuses as to why the bud didn't cure properly or as well as you thought. In a ideal world, we would all be curing in a perfect environment, have the expensive meters, and be masters of our craft. But we aren't and we don't have all the perfect environment and gadgets. So for this to be an instruction... We see this in another area we all know and look at regularly. When we buy a packet of seeds, "1kg per plant" on the description, nobody ever comes close, but this does not mean its a lie, an expert grower who knows that strain, was involved in breeding it, had the perfect environment, best gadgets and grow tools, he hit them numbers. But I or you won't.
A bit of a rant lol, but they are setting up excuses.
Testing
I'll start by saying they are curing weed. Not terrible, but they are doing it differently and not as well as either of the other methods. I've grown this strain back to back for 2 years, if you line up 10 strains and asked me to do a blind smell test, Id pick this strain out each and every time... But not this time. The buds curing in the grove bags are different. Smells like ganja, but has a metallic, iron undertone to it, something I've never had off any weed. It's also not going through the normal dog shit faze, that dutty shit smell this strain coats everything in the house with every time I open the bags and jars the rest is curing in and I'm used to.
The smell/taste is far less in the grove bags for the stage of curing.
I have read these are smell proof, hence the "terp lock", and you do not need to heat seal. If you are worried about smell leaks, heat seal them. As mentioned above the grip seal on these bags is not as good as other bags out there, they are not holding up. I'm even getting a whiff off the smell of the heat-sealed ones, this may be to do with the way the bags allow moisture in and out, but there is some smell there.
I'll continue to test week by week but the bigger bags are getting opened first, this lot is all going to RSO but I'm not happy with the change in smell and taste and what else it may be affecting.
Summary
It seems like I've got on a rant and I have, but ill explain why in a minute. First I want to say they do work ok, the weed is curing week by week. But im 100% convinced it's working far less effectively than the other 2 methods, and I don't use one of these methods regularly.
We've all forgotten about a jar of weed, a bag in a draw, a cupboard, or under the bed. You find that bag/jar a year later, same with that nug you found down the back of the desk that's been left in the open air for a year, smells ok and tastes ok, right? If you have weed in the 58-62% humidity range and put in a bag/jar and forget about it... its not going to be terrible 6 months later.
This in my opinion is another gimmick, another way to milk growers out of a few pounds, another old idea dressed up in a new shiny wrapper. The science, big fancy words, case studies, it's all good, and I'm sure right, but... We are not in laboratories, don't have stat of the art kit, we are stoners and home growers. If it ain't broke don't fix it, the issue is companies are out there fixing stuff that doesn't need fixing so that can make more money out of us, it's getting on my nerves lol.
This is something I'm testing still, dedicating 10's of ounces of my green too and I will continue to test it fairly over the 10 weeks. My issue is these bags are underperforming heavily compared to other methods I use. So much so I'm worried it's affecting other aspects of the final product I will be using as medicine.
To be clear, I'm sure the weed in these bags is fine, good, and does the job. Just not anywhere near as I'm used to seeing. When something can affect the final product we are all producing, affect t in a negative way or produce something less beneficial or good, It gets my back up.
Lastly, they are convenient, saves you opening a bag or jar a few times a day for the first week, less the weeks after... Come on, if the burping is to much effort, why spend 4 months growing it. I'll spend the 2 minutes a day as it seems to be producing a much better smelling and tasting product.
Weed has been cured for many years by people far smarter than me and these grove bags may be onto something that proves them all wrong. At the moment I'm not seeing that.
I'll keep testing but at the moment I'm not impressed at all.
I’m going to keep an eye on this! 
Resident Meme Demon 
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