In Japan, you can receive a medical prescription to walk through a forest. It is advised that you find a favourite trail through the woods, leave your phone behind, and walk slowly, even sitting against a tree if you feel so inclined, while breathing deeply the forest air. Called Shinrin-yoku, or forest bathing, it is the most studied of a growing number of “eco-therapies”, ways of bringing into medical consideration the health benefits of time spent in nature. And boy are there benefits; lowered blood pressure, enhanced immune system functioning, elevated mood and reduced anxiety have all been found time after time as a result of time spent in nature. As Richard Louv, author of Last Child in the Woods, has said, the results of over 1000 studies of nature’s effect on humans point in one direction: Nature is not only nice to have, but is instead a necessity for physical and mental health.
In many of these studies, a certain class of organic compounds pops up again and again as an important mediator of the benefits of time spent in nature. These compounds are incredibly versatile, serving as botanical defence and signal, signals which interoperate throughout the tree of life; the closest thing we have on this planet to a species-wide mother tongue. Plants, insects, fungi, vertebrates and invertebrates can send these chemical signals, receive them, or both, and it is into this interspecies conversation that we step every time we go for a hike in the woods. It’s a conversation that seems to benefit us to be part of, as an emerging body of research suggests.
Funny thing is, these organic compounds are packed into cannabis. It is what we have been breeding the plant to produce more and more of, in addition to CBD and THC, and these compounds are likely the reason you love the strains you love and hate the ones you hate. The compounds are called terpenes.
What Are They?
Though perhaps not by name, you already know terpenes: They are responsible for the scent of basil and lemons, pine and lavender, thyme and pepper and whatever other botanical scent you can think of. The interspecies signalling is registered by us as scent, though terpenes do much more than produce a smell. In cannabis, terpenes are what make a strain a strain. It is because of terpenes that Pink Kush feels different from Headband which feels different from Jean Guy. If THC and CBD serve as the motor of the cannabis plant, molecules able to send you somewhere different, terpenes serve as the rudder, determining in which direction you will be sent. Coined the “entourage effect”, it is the combination of THC, CBD and terpenes which account for cannabis’s versatility, why the same species of plant can serve purposes ranging from morning pick-me-up to evening night cap.
Though over 200 terpenes have been discovered in different strains of cannabis, seven terpenes serve as the backbone for most strains on our shelves. They are:
Myrcene
Think of the smell of thyme, mango and bay leaves and you have a good idea of the earthy, herbal, sometimes “mulchy” scent that myrcene can bring to a strain, also responsible for much of the “berry” scent present in some strains. There is some evidence suggesting that myrcene has a calming, sedative effect.
Myrcene Showcase Strain
White Lightning by Highland Grow
Nerolidol
Nerolidol has a sweet, floral aroma, also found in jasmine, lemongrass and ginger. Though less studied than other terpenes, it seems to land on the calming, relaxing end of the terpene spectrum.
Nerolidol Showcase Strain:
BC Organic Creek Congo by Simply Bare
Linalool:
Linalool has a scent profile most closely associated with lavender, though it is found throughout nature in birch bark, the leaves of the peanut plant, and many wildflowers and herbs. Though most strains exude linalool in small quantities compared to other terpenes, it seems to produce a calming, sedative effect in us, with linalool often playing an outsized role in many sleepy strains.
Linalool Showcase Strain:
Gabriola (Frost Monster) by Broken Coast
Caryophyllene:
Caryophyllene is found in many herbs and spices: black pepper, cloves, cinnamon, and oregano are all stuffed with the terpene. Spice, sweetness and musk (sometimes diesel) are the top notes of strains high in caryophyllene. Its role in the terpene lineup is as a utility player, found in super sedative indicas like Bubba Kush, as well as higher energy hybrids like Girl Scout Cookies.
Caryophyllene Showcase Strain:
Alien Sinmint Cookies by BLKMKT
Terpinolene:
Terpinolene Is perhaps the hardest scent profile to nail down, found in mint, parsnip, lilac and tea tree. There is often a “clean”, sometimes soap-like quality to strains featuring terpinolene, and it is the backbone of many a haze strain. If Jack Herer or Ghost Train Haze works for you, it might be the terpinolene which draws you to these lineages.
Terpinolene Showcase Strain:
Limelight (Ultra Sour) by Edison
Pinene (Alpha, beta):
Any notes of fir, pine, or rosemary are an indication that a strain is high in pinene. The most common terpene found in nature, it seems to produce a focused alertness, with some evidence that it is able to counteract the short term impairment that THC creates. If you are looking for a strain to help you cram for an upcoming exam, or lock into a day of productive work, look for a strain high in pinene.
Pinene Showcase Strain:
Blue Dream Pre-Rolls by Tantalus Labs
Limonene:
Limonene is found—you guessed it—in lemons, responsible for the fresh scent found in citrus peels and juniper. Limonene brings energy and euphoria, with some evidence that it helps to modulate serotonin and dopamine production. High limonene strains are the strains we love to reach for when we need some motivation to clean the house or go for a run.
Limonene Showcase Strain:
Denman (Pie in the Sky) by Broken Coast
Finding which of the above terpenes are featured in the strains you love can give you a good idea of what terpenes are likely to work for you. And “for you” is key here. While some terpenes seem to produce consistent effects (limonene seems to be almost universally happy and energizing), others seem to produce a range of effects depending on whose system the terpenes are interacting with. Experiment and find out what clicks with your body, you unique and beautiful snowflake.
What About Sativa and Indica?
This brings us to the dirty little secret of our industry; the common way of classifying strains of cannabis (sativa, hybrid, indica) is not an overly accurate system.
To explain, a quick cannabis origin story. There are three distinct lineages of cannabis, pulled from three distinct geographic areas, with every strain on our shelf today a descendent of one of those lineages. Those geographies? The elevated mountains of the Hindu Kush region, the mountains steppes of the Afghani border to India’s north, and the hazes from the southern tip of India
These three cannabis ancestors evolved to survive in distinct ecosystems, producing a suite of terpenes which echoed those of the plants they were surrounded by. Think citrus, lemongrass and floral notes in the hazes, earth, berry and pine in the Afghanis, and intense turpentine and diesel notes in the high elevation kushes.
These early cannabis strains also mimicked the growing patterns of their botanical brethren, with the hazes producing tall, expansive buds while the higher elevation Afghanis and kushes producing denser, squat flowers; a mango tree versus a berry bush.
Which is where the indica and sativa classification comes into play. If you were purchasing a nondescript ounce with nothing to go by but the look of the flower itself, the bud structure—elongated sativa vs the denser, bushier indica—gave you a pretty good indication of what terpenes would be in the strain. This is how the sativa/indica divide first popped up.
The problem is, things got weird in the last few decades. Growers started to cross strains with one another to boost the THC, or flavour, or supercharge the yield, and sativas and indicas were bred together with abandon. After decades of Willy Wonka-esque crosses, a strain can now look like a sativa but smoke like an indica, or the opposite, or some mix of the two. Everything is kind of a hybrid now.
Which is where terpenes come in. We now have at our fingertips the terpene profile for most of the strains on our shelf, which can give us a much more accurate picture of the effects they are likely to produce.
For our customers, terpenes don’t have to change all that much about how you shop. You still like the strains you like; knowing a little about terpenes just helps you understand why you like them. If you find a strain that you love or hate, do a quick search of the dominant terpenes (or just ask us), and make a note of it. If you consistently notice the same terps popping up again and again in your favourite strains, you will know what to look for when branching out to a new strain.
A little terp knowledge also helps to avoid getting too hung up on the indica/sativa distinction. If you had a terrible experience with a sativa once, now only smoking exclusively indicas, or vice versa, it might not be all indicas or sativas that turn you off; you might have just had a strain high in a terpene that sends you the wrong way. By knowing a little about the terps you like, you may be able to find something you love on the side of the aisle.
We also find an awareness of terpenes helps to break out of the THC fundamentalism which currently seems to dominate the market. Higher THC absent terpenes can lead to an indistinct, “muddy” high, and, inversely, a strain lower in THC can hit way above its weight if the terpenes are developed (the flower of Tantalus Labs is a great example of terpene-powered heavy hitters). Everclear is much stronger than Pappy Van Winkle, cheaper too, and yet people still pay more for the nuance and experience offered by the latter. It’s terpenes which bring the equivalent nuance to cannabis.
Inversely, we don’t want to replace one form of fundamentalism with another. There is much we still don’t know about terpenes, and terps like limonene, which almost always produce energizing effects, can be found in very sedative strains like Pink Kush. We don’t know enough about how terpenes interact with one another, or with our endocannabinoid system, to definitively say that terpene percentages are the only thing you need to pay attention to.
Like most knowledge, our understanding of terpenes is imperfect, incomplete, but nevertheless still useful to consider when making decisions.
Comparing two (fantastic) strains we recently received in store, Watermelon Zkittlez and Mandarin Cookies, is a good demonstration of all that we do not yet know about how cannabis produces its effects in us. Both strains have very similar terpene profiles (myrcene, caryophyllene, limonene) and yet produce very distinct flavours and effects.
It makes for a fun rainy day project to feel the effects of each strain back to back:
Terpenes, Gratis
Finally, it is worth noting that the cannabis industry does not have a monopoly on your access to terpenes. These natural compounds wash over you every time you step into the woods, signals sent as part of a communications network which spans the web of life. As Ruth Schmidt, a researcher studying terpenes, wrote: “organisms are multilingual, but 'terpene' is the [language] that's used most often”. As a species woven into this web of life, it’s a language we are fluent in as well. And, with evidence growing of the benefits terpenes can provide—reducing inflammation, lifting mood, enabling focus—it seems to be a language which can benefit us to speak every once in a while. I don’t know about you, but after the spring we have had, I could use all the help I can get on those fronts. So, call it forest bathing if you want, I am making a point of getting out into nature as much as possible this summer, of speaking a little of that species’ wide mother-tongue, and perhaps of adding to the chemical conversation going on within and around me, by lighting a joint in celebration.
