A few people here mention curing in passing but I think it generally falls on deaf ears, mostly (and understandably) because everyone (including myself) is usually in a rush to try their latest grow. However, if you find that your good looking bud (auto or photo) doesn't have the real smell you're looking for, or the buzz you get is too rushy or you're not getting properly blurry-eyed, heavily, giggily stoned, then a lack of cure could likely be your problem.
First thing to note is, that when a plant is dried and in a smokeable state it has still not been cured. Drying is just the first stage of curing. Leaving your bud to stay in a dry, stable atmosphere for a month really does make all the difference. I'm not going to get into chemistry but there are certainly changes going on in your bud when it is left to do its thing. Perhaps the moisture content in the trichomes changes, perhaps there are molecular alterations going on, who knows, fucked if I care.
I like Conference pears - but I have to buy an unripe one and leave it in a bowl and examine it every day until it reaches true ripeness. If I eat it too early - yes, it tastes like pear but it's not heavily perfumed and soft and juicy and delicious and utterly satisfying like a proper ripe one. Same with bud. Unlike pears however your bud will not turn to snot if left for a further month, it should improve even more!
This is my method and it works. Other people will have other methods but the process is basically the same.
Get yourself a great big tin with a lid (I use 2.5kg Nido milk powder tins (bloody good milk by the way)), line it with greaseproof paper, bung a few large (8g) sachets of Boveda 62% in there with all your dried bud, put a greaseproof paper layer on the top, put the lid on, put it in the dark behind the sofa for a month it will be an entirely different smoke when you remember where you left it.