Humidity control - Why it matters

To that end, GreenBroz has joined Boveda (among other top industry brands), for the 'Save the Terps' initiative. The goal of this initiative is exactly as it sounds, gathering renowned brands who all share in the mission of protecting the purity of the plant that powers this amazing industry.

Previous blog posts have discussed ways in which GreenBroz is actively working to preserve the terpenes of your harvest. In this blog, we share an interview with Drew Emmer of Boveda, who talks about 2-way humidity control and how Boveda produces an industry-leading product that is actively impacting the cannabis space. Additionally, Drew discussing how the technology works, how you can tell from the smell of your flower if it's working, and what consumers should be looking for in the product they are purchasing.

Drew Emmer - Boveda Expert Q&A

Q: Can you give me a little background on what Bovida is all about?

Drew:     Boveda is a 24-year-old company that cut its teeth with a solution to a problem in the cigar industry. Five years later, the company found another need for this kind of portable, precise humidity control in the guitar and precious musical instrument business. The name of the company at the time was Humidipak and we developed a solution for guitars.

So, if you're going to go out and spend five, six, seven, 10,000 dollars on a beautiful guitar, the last thing you need to happen is to have those precious woods dry out and you end up with a broken guitar. So, we solved the problem in the cigar industry. We solved the problem in the guitar and violin, viola, cello, that whole industry. 

Then, about 13 years ago, we discovered that a lot of our products were being bought in huge volumes at a handful of specific stores in cannabis country, Colorado, California, Washington, Oregon. 

So, we reached out to people that we knew in the Cannabis industry and they helped us develop a very specific humidity level for cannabis preservation. And that's really where we stand today.  Boveda is a salt-based product. Salt is key. Salt is in imperative ingredient when you are going to precisely control humidity. You can't precisely control humidity with other elements. Different natural salts that actually fit a humidity target for cannabis is really why we were able to transition effectively into the cannabis industry.

Humidity Percentages

Q: Do you have any examples of ways that people tried to control moisture in cannabis in the past before Bovida packs?

Drew:     I have personal examples from when I was in college. A long time ago, we used to have a friend in Hawaii that would grace us with an occasional package of beautiful buds, and they were all medically sealed and beautifully packaged. But, as soon as we would open them up, the speed of degradation... I mean everybody that loves weed knows that it gets dry in a hurry, depending on where you are.

We would open up a pound of that bud and it would get crunchy in a hurry. So, back in the day, we used to use a wet paper towel or we used to use tortillas. We used to have a Boveda shirt that said, "Save your tortillas for taco Tuesday," because people would throw in a tortilla, it had a certain moisture content, into a bag of weed, and it would make a difference, but you're also exposing it to all sorts of organic compounds that could affect your bud.

People put in pieces of banana, citrus, orange peel, orange slices. But, we were the first precise, portable, disposable, no-hassle, two-way, precise humidity control. And precision is really important. You guys, at GreenBroz, know all about precision. I mean, you've made a name for yourself by inventing and propagating throughout the industry, really precise equipment that delivers a real quality outcome.

It's the same thing for Boveda. We're very different in that we're a packet that you insert into whatever you want to keep at a precise humidity level. And when I say precise humidity level, I'm saying a Boveda pack that's rated at a 62% relative humidity is going to absorb humidity in a pack that's wet down to the 62% number, and it's going to add humidity to a pack up to the 62% number.

So, its genuine, precise, two-way humidity control for whatever it's packaged with. And in our case, we're talking about cannabis flower.

Q: What percentage is better for Colorado's dry environment?

Drew:     Colorado is really the reason why we came up with the secondary Boveda cannabis humidity pack. We initially issued a 62% pack. The general rule of thumb is you want to get cannabis flower below 65% and above 55% for the ideal window of precision for keeping cannabis at its ultimate quality.

There were certain growers in Colorado that challenged us to come up with a number between 55 and 59, and we found a natural salt that worked at 58%. So, a lot of people in Colorado use 58%. A lot of people in Colorado still don't use moisture control. Colorado is just a really old school, traditional market, even though we have a strong following in Colorado. So much of your weed in Colorado is not protected by precise, two-way humidity control.

We've issued a challenge to people to have an opportunity to test our products side by side with Boveda and without Boveda. Or with Bovida against any other, and there are other knockoff brands that have come into our market and tried to compete with us. We're all about people having their own experience and making up their own minds. We've had aggressive brands come into our space. But, we're the original creators of the category and we've gone out of our way to deliver a really precise, quality product.

GreenBroz isn't the only trimmer company in the world or handling company in the world, but you guys have established yourselves as a category creator and you've really done some things innovation wise to set you apart from everybody else in the industry. So, it's been our experience too. We established the category 24 years ago. We've constantly improved on it.

We'll stake our reputation against any and all comers. But, when people attacked us they said that humidity control steals terps. And we set out to research that because we take it seriously when somebody criticizes us, and we came out with a whole bunch of papers and a whole bunch of studies that not only refuted the facts that we steal terpenes, but in reality, the science is proven that we preserve terps.

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Photo Courtesy of Greenbroz

Source: Greenbroz