My buds tend to dry fast (around 3 days) if I trim and manicure the buds as soon as I harvest. I've noticed that leaving the plant whole and untrimmed for the hang dry period helps extend the dry time to about 5-7 days. This helps GREATLY with the smell and taste, for me atleast. The only excuse people will give u as to why to trim right away is it's easier. Though that is true, "nothing great is easy." I prefer to do whatever it takes to get the best possible smoke and frankly thats leaving the plant untouched to hang dry. I don't care if I have to spend an extra couple hours trimming, if the smoke is better than it's worth it. Especially after months of work and waiting. I've done both and even though trimming right away is easier, I'll always hang my plants whole to dry. The smell and taste is that much better.
I've done side by side comparisons where I dried one plant whole and one plant trimmed (same strain, clones off the same mother) and I honestly thought the untrimmed plant was harsher and I disn't see any real difference in flavor. Nothing worth the down sides of NOT trimming. The reason I prefer trimming the bud fresh isn't exactly because it's easier, but because it's more effective. I can dig the scissor tips down into the soft buds and trim out every last bit of leaf and stem. I cant physically do that with dried buds. With dried buds all you can trim is the leaves in the surface. So you actually end up smoking a lot more leaf material that is trapped inside the buds. I don't know about you, but I don't like smoking leaf....period. I prefer tightly trimmed buds. There are other ways to extend the dry time. Simply leaving the buds on the large stems and keeping them in a cool dark place should do the trick. I live in a vary dry climate so I know about the challenges of buds drying to quickly, but not trimming isn't the solution. Hell, you could trim the buds and let them sit under a pile of leaves you trim off if extending the dry time is the issue.