Medical Marijuana: Getting To Know Terpenes

Medical Marijuana Aroma

The aroma of your medical marijuana that you buy at Medical Marijuana Dispensaries could be playing an important role in your high. Medical marijuana strains have a variety of different and distinctive smells and tastes. Depending on the strain, the smell, and taste can be uniquely different. What causes such unique smells and taste in medical marijuana? The answer to the question, are called terpenes or trepenoids.

Terpenes give the cannabis plant its distinct smell and taste. They are the compounds found in marijuana that make up a significant portion of marijuana resin. Research has shown that 10 to 30 percent of marijuana resin is made up of terpenes. The ratio, percentage, and type of terpenes will vary by strain, as well as by individial marijuana plant. This is apparent in different medical marijuana strains, which have specific smells, tastes, and highs. There are well over 100 terpenes identified in marijuana plants.

Terpenes are found naturally throughout the world and are produced by plants, including herbs, flowers, spices, fruits, and vegetables. They cause the smells that we associate with plants and they are present when you sniff a bud. Another good example is when you peel an orange and you smell the citrus from the rind, this smell is caused by terpenes.

Medical Marijuana Terpene Content

In the medical marijuana you ingest THC, CBDs, and terpenes cooperate with each other for a spectrum of different effects and smells. The trichome is the gland where terpenes are produced along with THC on the flowering marijuana plant. Terpenes are the oily compounds in the trichome secreted by the plants gland. Terpenes passageways are the fundamental steps in the plant’s production of THC. Geranyl pyrophosphate is shared by the THC and terpenes, which will evolve into the cannaboids and terpeniods in the trichomes of the marijuana plant.

Generally the age and overall sexual maturation of the medical marijuana plant determines the amount of terpenes present. But there can also be differences on a smaller scale and can even vary over the course of a day. Terpenes levels reach their peak before dawn, during daylight hours or when the grow lights are on terpenes evaporate and give off a distinct odor. At the end of the day or when you turn off your lights, the cannabinoid and terpenes levels will be lower due to evaporation.

“The best time to harvest is just before the lights are turned on or when the sun rises this will help to acquire higher terpene percentages.”

Effects Of Terpenes In Medical Marijuana

Terpenes can temporarily alter brain function by affecting our perceptions, mood, balance, and sensitivity and other feelings. Some terpenes are known to lock on to receptor sites in the brain and having a direct effect on the release of certain chemicals in the brain. Other terpenes modulate the effects of THC and other cannabinoids.

Terpenes that are most abundant in medical marijuana include borneol, Delta-3-Carene, B-Caryophyllene, linalool, limonene, mycrene, pinene, terpineol, cineole, and pulegone.  All of these terpenes are said to have therapeutic properties. Terpenes play a crucial role in taste and smell, but seem to also affect the high and even the therapeutic properties of medical marijuana.