More Terpenes!
In a previous blog post we talked a bit about a few of the most common terpenes that occur naturally within the cannabis plant. This week we’re going to be discussing a few lesser-known terpenes. By the end of this blog post you’ll be able to wow friends at parties with your vast repertoire of chemistry knowledge. As a reminder, these little guys are the fragrant heavy lifters in your weed that generate a lot of the effects we feel when imbibing cannabis and provide the flavor and smell that we love. Like with any instance where we talk about the potential medicinal benefits of things like terpenes or cannabinoids, we’re just talking about their POTENTIAL as communicated by studies performed. Cause we might be smart, but we aren’t doctors. So, without further ado, onto the terps!
Limonene
Limonene is one of those terps that tastes how it sounds. If you’re smoking a flower that has limonene in it, odds are that flower has a citrus flavor to it. It is one of the most common terpenes that occurs in nature and is most commonly found in orange peel rinds. It also happens to appear quite often in cannabis, with growers and tokers of all varieties finding lots to love about it. In terms of the effects it provides, limonene is famous for helping to elevate one’s mood and studies have shown that it has potential stress relief properties as well as antifungal and antibacterial properties. One other interesting property of limonene is that it promotes absorption of other terpenes. Think of it as a sort of sherpa, guiding the other terpenes up the mountain that is your endocannabinoid system. So all and all, limonene is a great little terp that almost everyone has imbibed, especially if you’re a fan of high energy sativa strains like the Early Lemon Berry by Nugs.
Linalool
Linalool is the smell of spring, as far as I’m concerned. It’s the terpene responsible for the smell of lilacs, so you’ve almost certainly caught a whiff of it while out and about in nature during the season of rebirth. It also occurs in a myriad of different fruits and spices, so you’ve definitely been exposed to it at one point in your life. Especially if you’re a regular consumer of cannabis, where you’ll find it showing up in appreciable amounts. In terms of its effects, if you’ve ever smoked an indica and had a super heavy tranquilizing effect that swept you under the rug for the night, you’ve had linalool. From a medicinal perspective, it has shown promise as an antimicrobial compound, indicating that it has potential as a natural antibiotic. It has also (like many terpenes) been shown to help reduce stress and the symptoms of depression. Most excitingly perhaps, are the indicators that linalool can help strengthen our immune systems, thus making linalool one of the most well-rounded terpenes in terms of potential benefits. Some strains that contain linalool as a dominant terp are Do-Si-Dos and Zkittlez, both of which are renowned for their ability to wind one down at the end of a long day.
Pinene
Pinene, like limonene, sort of announces what it’s going to smell and taste like right out of the gate. Like its name implies, it smells like a pine tree and has a very sharp and spicy flavor. Outside of cannabis, pinene shows up every where from dill to rosemary. Its effects are pretty standard as far as the terpenes we’ve covered thus far go, with pinene boasting some potential anti-inflammatory and anti-anxiety properties. It however also possesses potential as a safeguard against some of the short-term memory loss associated with THC, which is super interesting as that is one of the few notable downsides of THC consumption. Pinene is most famously present in stains like the famous Blue Dream, where its myriad of benefits help to provide the cerebral, creative high which that strain is famous for.
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