Humidity Packs & Terpenes: A Closer Look

In the worlds of cannabis and hemp flower, freshness is akin to the holy grail.

As you can imagine, there’s products sold on the market that make claims of retaining this freshness – Humidity Packs.

As with any product that makes bold claims such as these, you’re bound to get those who are skeptical, especially in an industry known for its use long-standing traditions when it comes to growing and curing cannabis.

A debate rages on in the corners of forums everywhere:

Do humidity control products truly retain the quality of stored flower, or are they a gimmick that actually reduces it?

Well, we did the dirty work to find out; and the results may come as a surprise to some.

Let’s dive into the uncharted territories of moisture control, exploring the science behind humidity packs and their impact on your hemp (or cannabis) flower quality.

What Are Humidity Packs?

Humidity packs are commonly used to by retailers and consumers as mediators to prevent stored flower from aging in the wrong way (yes, there’s a right way).

These clever little pouches help maintain a precise humidity level inside of the containers they are placed in. This makes them essential for storing and curing dried flower.

These packs, such as the reputable Boveda packs, leverage natural salts and water vapor to provide 2-way humidity control.

What does that mean?

Well, they add or remove moisture to hit that sweet spot—usually around 58-62% relative humidity— to achieve a relatively known sweet spot for dried cannabis flower.

Here’s why that’s a big deal:

• Moisture Control: They prevent your flower from drying out while also stopping excess moisture that can lead to mold.

• Terpene Preservation: By maintaining the correct humidity, they protect the precious terpenes responsible for those strong aromas and flavors. Think of the moisture as one of those anti-aging serums. Keep the flower fresh, and the bag appeal hangs out for a longer period of time.

The Age Old Debate: Do Humidity Packs Help Or Hurt Your Cannabis Flower?

While it seems simple enough, there’s a fragrant debate happening right now concerning the validity of these products and their effect on terpenes.

Mentioned earlier, terpenes are the aromatic compounds that are known for giving your cannabis a good portion of its characteristic zest and zing. Outside of bag appeal; they synergize with cannabinoids to enhance your experience.

However, depending on how you store your flower, those strong aromas could dissipate faster than expected, leaving your stash less than appealing.

Cannabis enthusiasts strive to hit that sweet spot – the correct humidity level – during the curing and storing phases. However, not everyone is convinced that these humidity packs help reach and stay at this sweet spot.

Some users swear by them, while others worry that these packs may inadvertently lead to the degradation of terpenes, leaving a less than appealing dull grassy smell.

This leaves a lingering question: do these packs snatch terpenes away?

The jury’s still out… For now…

Putting It To The Test: Do they help?

Trolling various forums and social media; we’ve seen enough.

Someone will share their stash and someone tends to chime in on the inclusion or exclusion of a humidity pack; claiming they aren’t storing it right.

This leads to others taking their own stance on the matter, and then the discussion isn’t even focused on the original stash anymore.

Obviously, as a vendor ourselves, we want to ensure that we’re sending out product that’s up-to par. So, as you can imagine, seeing this debate happen so frequently left us scratching our heads.

Are we screwing up somehow by including humidity packs? Or is it just a bunch of hearsay?

We decided it’s time to roll up our sleeves and delve into the heart of the matter through the lens of science. Well, our attempt at it, that is.

Our 6 Month Extended Experiment

Okay, we’re not scientists by any means. However, we did our best to do our due diligence in coming to a close enough conclusion here.

Here’s how we did the test:

We kept it simple and strictly wanted to have a look at it in terms of smell and moisture from a consumer’s perspective. We picked out one of our most fragrant and freshest indoor strains and grabbed 4 eighths and some of our integra boost humidity packs. We then separated them into 4 groups.

The goal was to find out if humidity packs help, and whether or not there was a difference in storing them with your flower in a sealed glass jar, or if you could just leave it in the plastic bag it comes in.

• Bagged
  • 3.5G Melonade (With Humidity Pack)
  • 3.5G Melonade (Without Humidity Pack)

• Jarred
  • 3.5G Melonade (With Humidity Pack)
  • 3.5G Melonade (Without Humidity Pack)

We crafted a basic chart we could use for our findings.

Setting the Stage: Baseline Levels (10/4/23)

Below is a chart we crafted that we would use to jot our findings down. We would check the flower routinely over a period of a couple months and use this chart template as a way to record our “data”.

Chart:

Humidity Pack Experiment – Strain MELONADE	Bagged – 3.5 (Baseline)	Jarred (Glass) – 3.5
No Humidity Pack	SMELL – 5/10 MOISTURE –	SMELL – 5/10 MOISTURE –
With Humidity Pack	SMELL- 5/10 MOISTURE –	SMELL- 5/10 MOISTURE –

We had the stage set and were ready to start the long awaited experiment.

As mentioned we planned to check in gradually over time. We figured we’d start by checking every few days, then every couple weeks, and finally after a month.

Experiment Check-in #1 (10/17/23)

Again, we’re not scientists over here; this was just a side project we did. We had a schedule to check every few days, but that kind of went out the window. This check in was just under two-weeks after the initial baseline preparation.

Regardless, we went through with it anyway. We did a blind test of each pack to see what difference we would find.

Below are our individual ratings.

Tyler:

Humidity Pack Experiment – Strain MELONADE	Bagged – 3.5 (Baseline)	Jarred (Glass) – 3.5
No Humidity Pack	SMELL – 7/10 MOISTURE – Slightly Dry	SMELL – 5/10 MOISTURE – Slightly Dry
With Humidity Pack	SMELL- 5/10 MOISTURE – Spongy	SMELL- 6.5/10 MOISTURE – Spongy

Ant:

Humidity Pack Experiment – Strain MELONADE	Bagged – 3.5 (Baseline)	Jarred (Glass) – 3.5
No Humidity Pack	SMELL – 9/10 MOISTURE – Slightly Dry	SMELL – 8.5/10 MOISTURE – Slightly Dry
With Humidity Pack	SMELL- 7/10 MOISTURE – Spongy	SMELL- 8/10 MOISTURE – Spongy

Our main takeaway here was that after a couple weeks, only a couple things stood out.

With the humidity pack, the moisture levels stayed relatively good. Of course this was to be expected.

What we didn’t expect, however, was that the variables without the humidity pack smelled drastically stronger, especially so in the non-jarred option.

We attribute this to a faster degradation of the terpenes. The lack of humidity likely lead to them evaporating faster and accumulating in time inside the package.

Experiment Check-in #2 (4/22/24)

Now, you may be looking at the timestamp above and thinking, “That was quite the jump, wasn’t it?”

Yes. About six months to be precise.

The plan of checking in periodically over a couple months is NOT what ended up happening.

I had forgotten about the experiment until recently when Ant mentioned it would be good info for customers who had purchased bulk flower during 4/20.

Oops.

Regardless, we personally feel this one of the more realistic scenarios.

Let’s be honest here – if you haven’t smoked your recent pickup in the couple weeks after purchase, you likely have stashed it away for a rainy day a couple (or six) months out.

Anyway, we came back to our experiment and jumped back in. The results were… interesting.

Tyler:

Humidity Pack Experiment – Strain MELONADE	Bagged – 3.5 (Baseline)	Jarred (Glass) – 3.5
No Humidity Pack	SMELL – 4/10 MOISTURE – 1/10	SMELL -3/10 MOISTURE – 0/10
With Humidity Pack	SMELL- 5.5/10 MOISTURE – 2/10	SMELL- 7/10 MOISTURE – 8/10

Ant:

Humidity Pack Experiment – Strain MELONADE	Bagged – 3.5 (Baseline)	Jarred (Glass) – 3.5
No Humidity Pack	SMELL – 4.5/10 MOISTURE – 3/10	SMELL – 1.5/10 MOISTURE – 1/10
With Humidity Pack	SMELL- 5.5/10 MOISTURE – 4/10	SMELL- 6/10 MOISTURE – 6.5/10

We went with a number scale this time for moisture, as we felt that the differences were drastic enough to rate.

As you can see, we weren’t wrong. The moisture levels were absolutely decimated over the 6 month period without a humidity pack. Oddly enough, the jar was worse than the bag. While Ant was generous enough to give it a 1 out of 10, I was flabbergasted at how dry it was and rated it a zero. It was that bad.

Interestingly, when it comes to smell, both non-boveda options somewhat held up. Unfortunately it was only briefly. However, I’ll note something interesting here;

Prior to this check in, I had thought that the strain we were examining was papaya cake.

It wasn’t until the bagged non-humidity pack sample was opened that I realized how wrong it was.

“Is this melonade…?”

Coming back to the data from our previous check in, I had confirmed my suspicions.

Unbelievable. It was as if the terpene profile had aged to it’s true form, but was much lighter in smell. Once sat out for a few minutes, it was only noticeable on close inspection. I again attribute this to the fact the terps had been dissipating over 6 months and accumulated in the bag.

The Winner

Moving forward, the jarred humidity pack sample had been preserved the best.

The moisture was fantastic. Slightly better than the bagged humidity-pack sample, but noticeably.

The aroma was interesting. The smell wasn’t as sour as the bagged non-humidity pack sample. This one on the other hand smelled more fresh, and a bit more sweet and skunky. It wasn’t as defined, but it did emit a stronger overall odor that lingered, as opposed to fading quickly after exposure.

To summarize briefly, it looks a bit like this:

Humidity pack = More subtle, but stronger smell. Moisture is perfect.

No Boveda pack = Extremely defined smell, but very weak. Moisture nearly non-existent.

Again, we’re not scientists, but Ant and I had agreed – it was a no brainer.

A glass jar and a humidity pack is the way to go if you want your flower to last for a long time.

What about the terps? Did they get stolen?

No. Based on the results, we agree with the sentiments that the terps were retained. Humidity packs do not steal terpenes, based on this “experiment”.

I think it’s a common misconception that the mere presence of terps is equated to aroma.

The reality is that if you’re smelling them strongly, it’s commonly due to the rapid dissipation of them. You are smelling the result of that off-gassing.

You don’t want that.

The jarred humidity pack sample was not as defined as the other samples aroma wise, but much stronger. If you’re looking for that super strong aroma, maybe take the humidity pack out a few days prior to smoking, but don’t let it sit for more than a week without it.

You’ll likely let enough terps dissipate to create a more defined smell, but still retain the freshness of the flower for a flavorful smoke. Think of it as defrosting before cooking a meal.

The Results Are In: Humidity Packs Help!

Looking at our data and other available studies, we’ve personally come to a conclusion.

Investing in humidity packs, like the popular Boveda packs, are the best way to store your cannabis or hemp flower long term.

As far as terps go, they stay with your stash. The do not get stolen by some rogue humidity pack. In fact, the longer you store, the clearer the difference.

With 2-way humidity control, you lock in the quality from the initial cure to the moment of consumption.