Tag Archives: pinene

Busting the THC Myth: When it Comes to the Best User Experience, Terpenes Reign Supreme

By Mark Lange, PhD
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The scent of pine from your Christmas tree. The fragrance of a ripe summer peach at the farmer’s market. The whiff of eucalyptus and lavender that greets you when you enter a spa.

Aroma is a keystone in how we experience the world. In any given environment, aroma can help shape your mood, solidify memories and instantly transport you to another place or time.

I have focused my career on studying the fascinating compounds that are often behind these powerful aromas: terpenes. They form the largest class of natural products (compounds produced by living organisms), found in nearly all living beings. There are around 50,000 currently known terpenes in nature — with potentially thousands yet to be discovered.

Terpene-rich plants you might be most familiar with are lavender, mint, oranges (in the peel), and yes, cannabis. In recent years, terpenes have rightfully become a central discussion in the recreational cannabis world. This is because terpenes — not THC level, not “Indica-Sativa” classification — are a key determinant of cannabis’s effect, both psychoactive and non-psychoactive. But the current lack of prioritization and understanding of the crucial role terpenes play may put the collective quality of U.S. cannabis at risk.

At this crucial inflection point for legal cannabis, on its path to becoming a $70 billion dollar global industry by 2028, we need to ensure that everyone across the cannabis space, from breeders to testers, growers and consumers, understands which traits to prioritize for a cannabis world brimming with diversity and predictable effects.

What the cannabis industry has to lose 

What do we lose if the cannabis industry continues to scale without a clear understanding of the compounds that define the uniqueness of each variety?

There is a ripple effect across the ecosystem. For cannabis testing labs, focusing on only twenty of the most dominant terpenes means we are missing out on tapping into potentially over a hundred of less common terpenes in cannabis. For the cannabis consumer, lack of understanding on the breeding and testing side may make it difficult to find cannabis that delivers on its promised effect time and time again. And, most detrimentally for breeders, not understanding the direct correlation between genetics and the formation of terpenes means we will have increasingly fewer terpene profiles and combinations to work with, especially when the industry-dominant focus has been on cannabinoid potency.

Let’s explore some misconceptions related to potency. In recent years, many breeders have prioritized high THC levels over genetic diversity. Consumers often associate high THC levels and that telltale strong “skunky” aroma with a strain’s quality and effect, when in reality, these are poor indicators of potency. (In fact, recent research indicates that this specific cannabis aroma is caused by a family of sulfur compounds.) Terpene profiling is a much more accurate way to determine a variety’s given effect. In focusing too much on increasing THC, breeders miss out on the true potency powerhouse: tapping into the terpene diversity that’s out there.

Terpenes are responsible for giving flowers (including cannabis), fruits and spices their distinctive flavors and aromas. Common terpenes include limonene, linalool, pinene and myrcene.

To illustrate the impact of breeding practices that prioritize crop yield over product quality, I first have a question for you: When was the last time you enjoyed a really good tomato?

If you’re lucky enough to have a great farmer’s market nearby, maybe you purchased an heirloom tomato at peak freshness last August. It was likely fragrant, flavorful and didn’t need much preparation to be enjoyable.

Or maybe you can’t remember the last time you’ve eaten a good tomato, as the last standard grocery store tomato you purchased was watery, tasteless and essentially scentless.

Tomatoes are a prime example of what is unfortunately true for a whole host of traditional crop plants in the U.S. When yield is the goal, flavor and aroma profiles often suffer. The culprit: lack of genetic diversity in the breeding process. The tragedy of the tomato serves as a harbinger for the cannabis industry — and we can draw parallels to what we’ve seen happen to cannabis.

What the cannabis industry should do: Tap into the diversity that’s out there

An important aspect of preventing cannabis from going the way of the tomato is to better understand the genes that generate these different terpene profiles. Different cultivars with varying aromas will hold different collections of genes. We as an industry must learn more about which terpenes correlate with desirable aromas, and then access already existing genetic diversity.

We have just begun to scratch the surface of the potential of terpenes in cannabis. With the right alignment across the industry and a stronger focus on genetics in breeding, we will see the rise of completely unique cannabis varieties. They will smell like lavender, lilac, orange peel or even brand-new aromas that have yet to be discovered. To ensure this future, we need to prioritize the right traits and the right genetics.

Cannabis-Infused Beer Goes Mainstream

By Aaron G. Biros
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Lagunitas Brewing today unveiled a new beer infused with cannabis, making it the first large national brewery to experiment with cannabis. Lagunitas, now owned by Heineken, announced the launch of their “Supercritical Ale,” an IPA brewed with terpenes extracted from cannabis.

The brewery chose to partner with AbsoluteXtracts and CannaCraft, based in California, for their cannabis extract and will use hops from Yakima, Washington. “We’ve long known about the close connection between cannabis and hops,” reads their website. “Now Lagunitas is excited to partner with a like-minded neighbor in Sonoma County, AbsoluteXtracts, to close the gap further with tandem innovations on the topic.” Hops and cannabis belong in the same taxonomic family, Cannabinaceae, and they also have a number of physical similarities, which helps explain the “close connection” they are referring to. The website says the beer will only be available in California—for now. According to Fortune Magazine, the terpenes come from two strains, Blue Dream and Girl Scout Cookies (known as GSC in some states).

The name “Supercritical” comes from the state that carbon dioxide is best used as a solvent for extracting compounds from plants. Terpenes are responsible for the aromatic properties of plants, giving hops the piney and citrusy flavors that come in IPAs, and giving cannabis the same flavors and smells as well. Limonene, for example, is a cyclic terpene molecule that gives us a citrusy smell and flavor.

Coalition brewing Co.’s Two Flowers IPA

They’re not the first brewery to experiment with cannabis-infused beer; smaller craft breweries have been doing it for some time now. Coalition Brewing Co., based in Portland, Oregon, sells a cannabis-infused beer called Two Flowers IPA, with 3mg of cannabidiol (CBD) in a 12oz glass. Dad and Dudes Breweria, based in Aurora, Colorado, also put out a CBD-infused beer last year, called General Washington’s Secret Stash. According to Westword, Dad and Dudes was the first brewery to receive federal approval for a CBD-infused beer, but since the DEA declared cannabis oil illegal last winter, the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau rescinded their approval.

The common denominator between these three beers is that none of them contain THC, the popular psychoactive ingredient in cannabis. Perhaps Lagunitas is taking a safer approach with regard to federal legality by only using terpenes, not CBD, and only offering it in state. Coalition’s Two Flowers IPA is also only available in Oregon, but does, however, contain CBD. Check out the video on Lagunitas’ Supercritical Ale below.