Terpenes: what they are and why every strain tastes different

Cut open a lemon and you smell limonene. Walk through a pine forest and you smell pinene. Open a pack of flowers and you smell a mix of both and twenty other substances. Those are terpenes. They decide whether a strain smells of lemon, berry, pepper or forest, and they are the reason Zkittlez does not taste like OG Kush.

What terpenes are exactly, which are the most important in cannabis and what is actually known about their effects is on this page. With a table and without the esoterics.

What are terpenes?

Terpenes are aroma compounds that plants produce themselves. Chemically they are built from small units with five carbon atoms, isoprene. Two of them joined together make a monoterpene such as limonene. Three make a sesquiterpene such as caryophyllene. Thousands of different terpenes are known, so the overview on Wikipedia is long.

Why does the plant do this? Mainly for protection and communication. Some terpenes keep pests away, others attract pollinators. That they smell good to us is a side effect.

A term that often appears next to them: terpenoids. These are terpenes that also contain oxygen, for example after drying. In everyday use both terms are usually used interchangeably.

Terpenes in nature: from the forest to lemon zest

Terpenes are not a cannabis speciality. You come across them all the time.

• The smell of forest air comes to a large extent from pinene in conifers. That is exactly why "terpenes in the forest" and forest bathing are a research topic.
• Citrus peel is full of limonene. That is why your hand still smells of orange an hour after peeling one.
• Lavender smells of linalool, black pepper of caryophyllene, hops of myrcene and humulene.

Cannabis and hops are closely related botanically, by the way. If opening a flower reminds you of a freshly tapped beer, you are not entirely wrong.

Cannabis terpenes: why every strain smells different

In the cannabis plant the terpenes sit mainly in the trichomes, the tiny resin glands on the flowers. That is the fine, slightly glittering coating you can see with the naked eye on a good flower. More than a hundred different terpenes have been found in cannabis. The character of a strain, however, is usually shaped by only three or four that occur in larger amounts.

That combination is what makes the strain. Two plants can be alike in almost everything and still smell completely different because the terpene profile is different. The same applies to vapes: the base is often the same, the terpene profile decides whether the label says Super Lemon Haze or Purple Punch.

The most important terpenes at a glance

An example from practice: Super Lemon Haze is mainly associated with terpinolene, caryophyllene and myrcene in strain databases, White Widow with myrcene, caryophyllene and pinene. The fresh lemon of one and the earthiness of the other come down to exactly this difference.

Terpene effects: what is established and what is not

This is where things quickly get dubious. Lists circulate online claiming that myrcene makes you tired, limonene lifts your mood and pinene boosts concentration. Little of that has been shown in humans.

What exists: laboratory studies and animal experiments looking at individual terpenes. A well-studied case is beta-caryophyllene. It has been shown to bind to one of the body's cannabinoid receptors, the CB2 receptor. That is a real finding, but not proof of any particular effect when vaping.

What hardly exists: studies showing that the small amounts of terpenes in a flower or a vape have a measurable, reliable effect in humans. The "terpene effects table" you find on many sites is therefore more a collection of anecdotes and assumptions. Read it as a guide to flavour, not as instructions for use.

The entourage effect: a theory with thin data

Behind many claims about terpenes is the idea of the entourage effect. It says that cannabinoids and terpenes work differently together than on their own. The idea is popular and is taken seriously in research. It has not been proven. There are studies that support it and others that find no effect.

Put fairly: it is plausible that the overall profile of a strain matters more than a single ingredient. How much more, nobody knows exactly at the moment.

Terpenes in vapes and flowers: what to look for

• Smell when opening. Terpenes are volatile. A flower that smells of nothing when you open it has lost them along the way, usually through heat, light or storing it too long.
• A specific strain description. If every strain has the same text, the profile is probably interchangeable. Good descriptions tell you whether it leans towards lemon, berry, pepper or earth.
• Heat in vapes. Terpenes do not tolerate high temperatures. If a vape suddenly tastes burnt, the filling is usually running out or the atomiser is running too hot. The aroma compounds are gone at that point anyway.
• Store properly. Cool, dark, airtight. Not in the car, not on the windowsill. That applies to flowers just as much as to opened vapes.

Terpene profiles at SHEESH

Every strain at SHEESH has its own terpene profile, that is the core of the Superior Blend. If you like citrus, start with Super Lemon Haze. If you want earthy and balanced, start with White Widow. Sweet and fruity is Zkittlez, Melon Runtz or Peach Ice.

As a pod for a battery you will find the strains under Pods, as a disposable device with the H3 Superior Vapes and the DNT-9 Vapes. Flowers are with the SHEESH Budz, ready rolled with the SHEESH Rollz.

If you want to know how strains are classified in the first place, read on in Indica vs. sativa: the difference.

Superior BlendPodsH3 Superior VapesDNT-9 VapesSHEESH BudzSHEESH RollzIndica vs. sativa: the difference