There is some great curing info in the Harvesting and Processing section. You can smoke weed as soon as it is dry enough to burn but it will taste and smell bad. About 4-6 weeks in a jar will bring out a far smoother smoke.
Shortest I would dry is 5-7 days, then a minimum of 7 days cure after that. You can cure as long as you want basically. Arjan from GHS said that he cures his Cannabis Cup entries from 4-6 months which he believes to be the absolute best.
ok cool. i guess i could do half and half 1-2 weeks for some weed and 6-12 months for i guess a special occasion. lol people do it with wine why not weed right.
Some claim slight potency increases if properly dried and cured, though I've never seen any actual proof supporting this, or debunking it. That being said, lengthy cure times (~6 months+) thc and other cannabinoids will slowly degrade.