With the cannabis successfully harvested and dried so the stems crack when bent 90° or more (as mentioned in "Drying Cannabis 101") the tedious process of manicuring cannabis is begun. Manicuring cannabis correctly is an essential step in the production of high quality cannabis as poorly manicured and/or handled cannabis heads will begin to degrade in quality rapidly, and if cured (see "Curing Cannabis 101") or stored incorrectly they may even become mouldy or have their taste ruined from the dying excess leaf remaining from a poor manicure job.

When manicuring cannabis heads they should be held from the stem only to avoid over handling and loss of quality. The cannabis heads should carefully be removed of all the dead and non-resinous leaves surrounding the buds using a small pair of scissors or trimming clippers, until they look much like the main cannabis head featured in the image to the right. The majority of the other cannabis heads in the background of this image still require some manicuring.

Manicuring cannabis is a tedious and time consuming task making the temptation to cut corners and hastily trim very inviting. When producing high quality cannabis heads manicuring correctly is absolutely essential to the process, especially when the cannabis heads are to be cured (see "Curing Cannabis 101").