Terpenes, What are they worth?

Some people feel the terpenes are additive to the buzz. I want to find out what a group of people think. "Terpenes are the fragrance molecules found in the plant resin. These terpenes not only contribute to the pungent aroma of these magnificent flowers – but they also help define the medical qualities of the strain!" A quote by Matt Cote … twitter @cannabisstrains http://91life.stickyguide.com/blog/where-terpenes-bloom. What are the collective (Borg) thoughts on this?


Terpenes (/ˈtɜrpiːn/ TUR-peen) are a large and diverse class of organic compounds, produced by a variety of plants, particularly conifers,[SUP][1][/SUP] though also by some insects such as termites or swallowtail butterflies, which emit terpenes from their osmeteria. They are often strong-smelling, and thus may protect the plants that produce them by deterring parasites. Many terpenes are aromatic hydrocarbons and thus may have had a protective function. The difference between terpenes and terpenoids is that terpenes are hydrocarbons, whereas terpenoids contain additional functional groups. Copied from Wikipedia.


Thought for the year.

Peace out

Why would you want to give up the flavor qualities?

The smell changes as they mature, it can be like pine or skunk , pepper or even grapes, figs or butterscotch. The flavor separates one strain from the other (the best from the rest) its the result of the genetics and how it grew. The field of 'Aromatics' is studying natural smells and flavors.

Dogenzengi said:

Why would you want to give up the flavor qualities?

Click to expand...

Because some people just want to get as high as possible with as little weed as possible in as little time as possible. The actual smoking part isnt the best part for everyone some peopel jsut wanna get the thc intheir system and then chill out baked not keep smoking to stay baked.

That said.... Sounds like it wouldn't be such great bud without any terpines. Was jsut answering ur question

I remember reading a study, not sure how true it was, but it was recent, where people were given extracted thc with the terpines stripped out of it at different % levels. They were then given or another test group was given less % of thc but thc that was combined with the terpines and other things in the buds and they reported they felt alot more off of less % of thc with the added terpines.

Ive also heard that the same terpines found in weed are found in certain aroma therapy medicines. The main one ive heard about was a terpine in lavender, which is used or anxiety, that is a large percentage of the terpines in strains such as strawberry cough which is the klonopin of weed if there is one. Very calming.

I might be confusing terpines and terpinoids but either way im pretty sure they play pretty big roll in the high

hydrosoil78 said:

The smell changes as they mature, it can be like pine or skunk , pepper or even grapes, figs or butterscotch. The flavor separates one strain from the other (the best from the rest) its the result of the genetics and how it grew. The field of 'Aromatics' is studying natural smells and flavors.

Click to expand...

This is very true. I have a few crosses that have the same skunk (old school number 2) with other genetics. One plant smells like pinesol/mixed with a fruity skunk. the other is this peppery weird spicy smell with slight skunk scent....

Yeeeaa
Terps play a huge role in the high..thc and all cannabinoids are in fact terps
Pure thc does not give a satisfactory high.. this is widely known
The introduction of cbd or other cannabinoids doesn't improve it all that much..
Terpines/terpenoids are vital to the high (why sativex was created)

What may be a more appropriate statement is that not all of the flavors associated with weed are caused by terps, alcohols aldehydes esters etc make up much of the flavor...you can do without those and have a good high...this seems to come up when talking about tga gear..(never grown it, have nothing against it)...at what point do you sacrifice the high for flavor...I assure you a low odor landrace sativa will blow you away..the 2 are not really correlated

The terps play such a role that we use hplc analysis using the cannabinoid ratios and terps to determine the high.. they each have different properties

i for one prefer a mild buzz from a great tasting and smelling bud than a total stone from some shit tasting weed. good tasting smoke has always gotten me pretty baked anyway whether it is a psych-somatic thing or due to the terpenes, terpenoids or terrapins for that matter.

I don't believe terpenes have anything to do with pests.
If it did, why do so many people have problem with bugs?

Seems to me the smell attracts certain things like gnats for instance.
I also have never seen a bug stuck to the resin on a plant. I see gnats land and fly away like it isn't anything.

https://www.icmag.com/gallery/data/500/12522Billede_052.jpg
I post this pic a lot mainly in reference to the myth of seed production being tied to thc/trichome production...
But it clearly has a bug..
The skunky and rotten meat terps definitely attract bugs..myrcene will kill aspergillus..and so on with each terp having different properties. And we can examine their role using plants that naturally contain those same compounds and evolved to do so...they definitely have a proven environmental/ecological role with the plant and what it faces in its natural habitat

Looks like that bug is getting full.

Yeah ive always heard that the plant could possible create more thc in harsh conditions to protect the seeds from the UV light. Not sure how true that is but ive had some crops accidentally get seeded and it was just about the same as the stuff ive harvested before that so it definitely doesnt fuck with the thc or terps that much.

As for bug replants it would make sense. They have strains that are mold resistant and that probably has something to do with something the plants produce.

Kinda like how some people use spicy peppers for bug repellents

budbro18 said:

I remember reading a study, not sure how true it was, but it was recent, where people were given extracted thc with the terpines stripped out of it at different % levels. They were then given or another test group was given less % of thc but thc that was combined with the terpines and other things in the buds and they reported they felt alot more off of less % of thc with the added terpines.

Ive also heard that the same terpines found in weed are found in certain aroma therapy medicines. The main one ive heard about was a terpine in lavender, which is used or anxiety, that is a large percentage of the terpines in strains such as strawberry cough which is the klonopin of weed if there is one. Very calming.

I might be confusing terpines and terpinoids but either way im pretty sure they play pretty big roll in the high

Click to expand...

Thanks Budbro,

I think terpenes are very important to the experience. I find it very interesting that there are so many different ones in cannabis. If you look at the lab test results from TGA seeds on their strains, it lists a lot of terps. I will see if I can find that report.

Peace out