Purity - Salty Buds??

[Each Hit]

swim's roommate recently brought home a small quantity (about a half-eighth) of marijuana buds to smoke. swim noticed the weed smelled kind of weird and tasted pretty harsh. upon crumbling some up to pack a bowl, swim licked his fingers (which he often does when trichomes get on them) and noticed a distinct salt flavor. under swim's 16x magnifier, small crystals can be seen among the trichomes. these crystals look (and taste) an awful lot like table salt. has anybody ever heard of somebody spraying salinated water on their buds to make them look like they have more trichomes once the water evaporates and the salt re-crystallizes?? what about for any other reasons (curing maybe??). swim is pretty pissed off about the situation (thankfully, it was only a small quantity). the only way he can think of to remove the salt would be to rinse the buds with water and allow them to dry, though this poses a threat of mold (and it wouldn't be worth the wait for the little amount of bud that it is). has anybody else encountered this??