Is lack of scent a problem?

I just harvested my first year Willamette plants. Got 10 oz. dried from 2 rhizomes. After reading all the posts about when is the right time to harvest, I feel I got them down at the right time. After a day of drying them for 24 hours with some fans, I was surprised at how little hops odor they had. Shouldn't the odor be strong when dried? They had a moderate amount of hoppy odor when first picked. Now, there's very little now that they are dried. I'm hoping it's just the variety and that I didn't overdry them or something. Thanks for any thoughts on this matter.

You've really gotta open them up to smell mine, i figure that's about normal.

I haven't noticed an overpowering odor with mine. Of course hand picking will stir up much less of the lupulin and other odors then when they are beat to hell by machinery. Of course you could do the the Jim Koch from the SA commercial and rub some between your hands to break stuff up and fully appreciate them. As long as you've followed the advice here on when they are ready you'll be fine.

cuinrearview said:

I haven't noticed an overpowering odor with mine. Of course hand picking will stir up much less of the lupulin and other odors then when they are beat to hell by machinery. Of course you could do the the Jim Koch from the SA commercial and rub some between your hands to break stuff up and fully appreciate them. As long as you've followed the advice here on when they are ready you'll be fine.

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This. I was also concerned about lack of aroma, then I rubbed one between my palms and was blown away by the aroma. Hand picking and drying gives you a much better product than what you're used to using.

Stick your nose in the bag you packed them in. The aroma is there.

I also like to pull apart the bracts fresh from the plant and rub the lupulin between my fingers and then smell them. This is best done in the late evening as it makes for some mighty fine dreams!

The only cones that I've sniffed un-molested that produced a significant aroma are this year's Zues, and they're still on the bine. As Gila says a sniff in the bag after drying will yield some positive results as well.