Terpenes are the only thing that truly distinguishes two resins with the same CBD content.
They’re also the first to disappear. Poor drying, pressing at too high a temperature, three months in a poorly sealed container—and all that’s left is a number on a label.
We’ve been growing and processing since 2020, between Switzerland and the Moroccan Rif. Here’s what these molecules are really all about, the eight you’ll actually encounter, and how to read a terpene profile without fooling yourself.
Each batch comes with a Swiss laboratory analysis of its terpenes, in addition to cannabinoids. You can also browse our catalog by dominant terpene rather than by strain name.
Terpenes are volatile aromatic molecules produced by a large portion of the plant kingdom. Hemp is no exception in this regard: pine, lemon, lavender, and hops also produce them—sometimes exactly the same ones.
The plant doesn’t produce them for us. They are survival tools: to attract pollinators, repel insects, and limit the growth of fungi. The scent you enjoy is a chemical defense mechanism.
More than two hundred have been identified in cannabis. In practice, only about ten appear in significant quantities in an analysis—the rest are present in trace amounts.
Terpenes are produced and stored in the tips of trichomes, in exactly the same place as cannabinoids. That explains everything else.
In concrete terms: anything that damages a gland causes a loss of terpenes. This includes overly aggressive sifting, handling with warm hands, rough transport, or improper pressing. The molecule doesn’t degrade—it simply evaporates.
How these glands work is explained in detail in our article on where terpenes are located in the plant.
| Terpene | Smell | Also found in | Volatility |
|---|---|---|---|
| Myrcene | Earthy, musky, ripe fruit | Mango, hops, thyme | Medium |
| Limonene | Citrus, fresh zest | Lemon, orange, juniper | Medium |
| Pinen | Pine, resin, forest | Pine, rosemary, basil | High |
| Caryophyllene | Pepper, spices, wood | Black pepper, clove | High |
| Linalool | Floral, lavender, sweet | Lavender, coriander | Low |
| Terpinolene | Herbaceous, woody, slightly lemony | Nutmeg, cumin, lilac | Low |
| Humulene | Hops, earth, dry wood | Hops, sage | Low |
| Bisabolol | Soft floral, chamomile | Chamomile | Low |
The volatility column is the most useful in the table. Light terpenes like pinene and caryophyllene evaporate first—which is why a resin loses its fresh, peppery notes first and retains its heavy, sweet notes longer.
A resin that smells only sweet and earthy doesn’t necessarily have that profile: it may simply have lost everything else.
This is where we need to be precise, because the market tends to say just about anything.
What a profile tells you: the strain used, the harvest time, and the quality of the drying and storage processes. A rich and complex profile is a hallmark of careful craftsmanship —it’s a reliable indicator of quality.
What a profile doesn’t tell you: the effect you’ll experience. The correlations you see everywhere—such-and-such a terpene for sleep, another for focus—are based on studies conducted at doses that bear no relation to what we actually inhale. Research has not established anything so clear-cut to date.
We break down this distinction between what’s established and what’s assumed in our article on what the research really shows.
The hypothesis is simple: cannabinoids and terpenes are thought to work together, producing different effects than each would produce on its own.
This is plausible and consistent with the experience of many users. It hasn’t been proven in the conventional sense, and the available studies are mostly in vitro or use doses far removed from real-world use.
What we can honestly say is this: a full-spectrum product retains what the plant has produced, while an isolate retains nothing. This is an argument for staying true to the plant, not a promise of a specific effect.
Three enemies, in order of importance:
In practice: an airtight, opaque, full container, stored between 15 and 20 °C.
The precise temperatures depending on usage—daily use, reserve, or long-term storage—are detailed in our guide to storing CBD hash.
Concentrations are expressed as a percentage by weight. Here are three benchmarks to help you interpret the data:
Be wary of a profile that’s too “clean.” A single terpene at a very high concentration, without any others, resembles an additive more than a plant.
Our terpene chart details each of these molecules and the strains in which they are found.
The third point is the most revealing. Different strains that smell the same indicate an added aroma, not a terroir.
No. The myrcene found in mangoes and the myrcene found in hemp are the same molecule. What is unique to cannabis is the combination and proportions.
It has lost its terpenes, or never had any to begin with—as is the case with isolate-based products. The absence of a scent is not a sign of purity; in fact, it’s the opposite.
Yes, and it’s common. Synthetic terpenes or those derived from non-cannabis plants can easily recreate a missing aroma. The telltale sign: a profile that’s too sharp, too blunt, and always the same.
Some are being studied, but no effects have been established at the doses found in a CBD product. The claims circulating online are based on extrapolation, not proof.
