I was introduced to some really beautiful pacific northwestern homegrown Northern Lights back in the nineties. It was mailed-in and wildly unlike anything I could ever find in Colorado at that time. Once I smelled that wonderful earthy, slightly minty, piney – and skunky fragrance there was no going back to the brick weed we had access to before this wonderful gourmet level connection came along and changed the way I thought about weed. This is when I began to realize how  terroir – growing conditions, soil composition, climate and geography – influences the plant we called “pot” at the time. Of course, I didn’t know that word; terroir – and was not paying any attention to anything about pot except how it high it could get me, I wasn’t some kind of sommelier or anything – but this was a moment of awakening.  I started to think of it as so much more than just weed and fantasized about visiting places like California, Oregon, Washington, or British Columbia …or Amsterdam! where there was quasi-legal choices to be made from a broad selection of available strains, social acceptance and a bunch of methods of ingestion. And the Cannabis Cup was talked about in High Times Magazine, whetting my appetite for variety and flavor and sensory effects not to mention the idea that – nobody was going to get arrested for sparking up a joint on the street. Weed menus in coffee shops? Goendag! 

Let’s talk about terpenes

This sensory awakening – how beautiful the flowers looked and how fresh they felt, and of course, the biggest thing was the smell, And it was definitely not about taste because at that time we were willing to smoke it down to beyond viable – out of apparatus that were made of sketchy materials and we were not in it for the flavor or health at that point in my life. Hell we were drinking Keystone by the 12 pack on a Friday night if that tells you about the crowd I ran with. But the “higher quality weed” door was kicked open and since then I’ve learned to appreciate this flower in so many new ways. Terpenoids, man what an amazing thing. Flash forward to now. Colorado is among the first states to have legalized cannabis use, sales and possession. Denver, and the state as a whole, has grown to include a thriving, sprawling cannabis industry and has been growing like this for well over a decade. Selection and choice is ubiquitous. Open consumption is not an option quite yet but we are making progress. Destigmatization is melting stereotypes with each passing year of our successful effort to give anyone of legal age access to nature’s perfect plant. As a beneficiary of legalization and wide access to cannabis, I’ve been using a vaporizer as my primary inhalation device for about 15 years and I’m an enthusiastic evangelist for vaporizing flower for one big reason: flavor. There’s a bunch of other reasons but let’s focus on flavor and smell and let’s talk about terpenes. I didn’t know it at the time but it’s probably true that myrcene was my first favorite terpene. Northern Lights can feature myrcene as one of its prominent terpenes and it would account for what I remember was a musky and earthy – skunky- perfume to these bulging quarter ounce ziplock bags. I bet there was big levels of pinene too because inhaling the smoke made me think of imagined pine forest on Mt Hood where it was purportedly grown. I’d like to vaporize some of that stash today, of course it’s long gone and the new version of Northern Lights chemovars that can be found today may or may not remind me of the good old days. Terpenes, flavonoids and of course terroir were responsible for the olfactory memory I still think of after all this time. Outdoor homegrown Northern Lights from the North Corner was the ultimate experience  – if I’d only known then what I am just beginning to understand now…

Myrcene is the terpene

Let’s suppose myrcene is the terpene I think of as my first favorite and take a look at how this particular terpene interacts with other compounds such as THC for example. The entourage effect may be what’s happening when we see THC and myrcene reduce pain levels in users because together they can act as an analgesic. Together, THC and myrcene can also promote muscle relaxation and can affect the body with sedation and tranquilizing benefits. I like the idea of how a full spectrum set of cannabinoids and terpenes can interact with my nose and palette and how the effects can be very complex and dynamic, psychoactive, and good. Vaporizing the flower helps me to notice through my senses a symphony of benefits from the cooperation of compounds but also in the way my body cooperates with the plant via the endocannabinoid system is sort of happening behind the scenes. It’s a mind-blowing demonstration of balance through cooperation and now I’m realizing the huge and important role terpenes themselves play by unlocking health benefits and psychoactive effects available through the synergistic cooperation of terpenes binding to olfactory receptors in my nose and how they can interact with my endocannabinoid system.

The plant has been influencing our consciousness, health and well-being since the dawn of time.

But here’s the thing; it gets more interesting. Terpenes also bind to receptors on cells throughout the body and, maybe one of the coolest things they do is, alter the permeability of the blood-brain barrier and increase the bioavailability of cannabinoids. I want to emphasize that by suggesting that the plant, through terpenes is lubricating and unlocking receptors in our body that allow it to seek and find balance in the endocannabinoid system. The bond between the plant and body and mind seems to have been evolutionary and I cannot get over how the plant has been influencing our consciousness, health and well-being since the dawn of time and we are just now noticing it on a cellular level.

Harness the power of cannabis

Something else I learned today that I want to include because it’s huge – and a practical application of understanding a unique characteristic of another terpene. I was excited about it and paused my Terpene and Flavinoids lesson and I shared it with one of the members of my homegrow club that has occasionally discussed with me the subject of cannabis storage – especially during the curing stage. 

Hey, Dad, I just learned something big:

A common terpene found in cannabis is Pinene. It’s what causes pine trees to smell like they do and that same aroma and flavor can be part of the terpenoids profile of some of the plants we’ve been growing

One of the things pinene can do is degrade or breakdown the chemical structure of plastic bags. It’ll comprise the chemical structure and cause plastic to release chemical reaction byproducts into your weed.

Glass jars are the most reliable storage choice for sure but knowing this is helpful to realize how bad a choice using plastic has been.

I’m not accusing this club member of using plastic for cannabis storage recently, but because of his age and experience, he’s seen pot stored in plastic bags forever, just like me, and at first didn’t realize glass was the preferred choice for freshness. And now, together, we know how powerful natural compounds such as terpenes can be when they interact with man-made materials – which makes us better growers. This knowledge also makes me hope for more research that could lead to utilizing terpenes in some way to combat plastic deposited in landfills. If we could harness the power of cannabis to assist in the biodegradation of even a fraction of the plastic waste associated with the cannabis industry that goes directly to landfills – we’d be doing ourselves and future generations a huge favor.

Scratching the surface

I digress and I apologize. I’m pretty turned on by the topic of terpenes and I feel like scratching the surface here is going to lead to a whole bunch more cool things to know and understand about the role terpenes play when unlocking the good stuff.

I’ll talk a lot about terpenes here. In fact,  I’d like to hear from you so we can collaborate – what’s your favorite terpene and how does it elevate your cannabis experience?