How Long Does Weed Stay Good In A Plastic Bag?

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You’ve been storing your weed in plastic bags since the dawn of time. However, is this a good thing? Should you store weed in plastic bags? If so, how long does weed stay good for in a plastic bag?

Simply put, you actually should not store weed in plastic bags at all. It is no ideal. If you do store weed in plastic bags, you can expect it to stay good for a minimum of two months, and up to around 10 months. However, this does depend on a variety of factors, so let’s take a closer look.

Contents

How Long Does Cannabis Stay Good For?

If you have properly grown, dried, and cured your weed, it should stay good for 6 to 12 months, maybe longer if you take all of the proper steps.

Now, weed can stay good for a year or more depending on how it is dried, cured, and stored.

That said, marijuana will only stay good for so long in most cases, which is because properly storing weed is easier said than done.

Many people just keep their weed in plastic bugs. However, is this ideal? Is it OK to store weed in a plastic bag? They’re all questions we are about to answer below.

Storing Weed In Plastic Bags

Something that should be noted is that if we are being totally honest, storing weed in plastic bags is not recommended in the least.

The reason why this is not recommended has to do with the static charge which plastic bags can create.

Due to friction and other factors, plastic bags can develop static charged which attracts trichomes.

In other words, all of those beautiful crystals that contain all of that THC will stick to the bag.

Therefore, storing weed in plastic bags causes weed to degrade and lose potency over time.

Storing weed in a bag is also not recommended because you can’t engage in proper humidity control, plus there are issues surrounding UV light as well.

Simply put, weed should not be kept in a plastic bag.

How Long Will Weed Last In A Plastic Bag?

If the weed has been dried and cured properly, you can expect it to stay good in a plastic bag for at least 2 or 3 months.

If you take into account all of the other factors, and you take the proper steps to help preserve your weed, you could stretch that to as long as 8 or 10 months.

However, once again, storing weed in a plastic bag is not recommended.


How To Tell If Your Weed Has Gone Bad

Ok, so you have stored your weed in a plastic bag or any other such place, and it’s been there for months. How do you tell if your weed is still good or not?

  • If your weed has mold or mildew, it has gone bad.
  • If the weed crumbles into dust when you touch it, it’s old. Now, it may still be fine to smoke, but it won’t taste fresh and probably won’t be very potent anymore.
  • If you go to pull a nug of weed apart and it makes absolutely no sound, it might be wet and moldy, in which case it’s recommended that you throw it out.
  • Fresh marijuana has a distinct smell, and it’s easy to recognize a fresh smelling bud of weed. If the smell has altered a lot, or it smells bad, it’s probably too old to smoke.

How Does Weed Go Bad?

Alright, so besides getting either way too dry and crumbly or getting wet and moldy, why exactly does weed go bad? What is it not great to smoke 5 year old weed?

The answer has to do with the THC content of weed. Simply put, over time, weed loses its potency and the THC dissipates.

Here is the rate of THC degradation over time;

  • After one year, weed loses roughly 16% of its THC.
  • Two years in storage results in a loss of 26% of its THC.
  • Weed loses 34% of its THC after three years.
  • After four years in storage, weed loses 41% of its THC.
  • If your weed is very old, at the very least, it just won’t be very strong anymore and might not get you high at all.

Tips To Keep Weed Fresh Longer

Here we have some really great tips to help keep your weed fresh for longer.

Now, keep in mind that we would not recommend using a plastic bag for storage, but the below tips, some of them, can be applied to plastic bag storage.

  • Store your marijuana in a cool place because excessive heat will speed up the degradation of the weed.
  • Store your marijuana in a relatively dry place. Excessive moisture is never a good thing in this case.
  • Try using Boveda packs with an RH of around 55% to 60% for humidity control.
  • You can vacuum seal bags or jars to keep oxygen out, which helps prevent degradation, mold, and more.
  • Never put weed in the fridge or freezer. The fluctuations in temperature an humidity will cause mold and mildew to grow on the weed, especially when you remove it from the fridge or freezer.

How Long Does Weed Stay Good In A Ziploc Bag?

This really depends on what your definition of good is. If we are talking about flavor, then your weed will stay good for a couple of weeks.

It will start to lose its scent after a couple of weeks, as those trichomes evaporate. The more you open that bag, the more of the scent is going to evaporate.

Moreover, it will also start to dry out after a couple of weeks. Again, the more you open the bag, the faster it dries out. The good news is however that your weed will remain potent for a long time.

Studies show that weed loses about 16% potency, both CBD and THC after the first year. In other words, your weed should be good for at least a year when properly stored in a Ziploc, particularly if it is in a dark place.


Conclusion

The best way to store weed is in an airtight mason jar, preferably vacuum sealed, with a relative humidity level no more than 60%, and out of the light.

If you plan on storing weed for more than a few weeks, plastic bags are not recommended.

Fabian

My passion for the sticky icky started nearly a decade ago, and it all began when I first laid my eyes on the beauty that is the marijuana plant.

I cover all aspects of growing from equipment recommendations to plant health/care tips to help both new and experienced growers.