Terpenes -

Part 2. -

Terpenes - Part 2. -

Terpene Tasting

How to sniff out your favorite terps
like a Super Stoner.

Terps tell you everything -

Written by Aaryn Indica

What’s behind a whiff of cannabis?

And - more importantly, how can your favorite skunky strains tell you about the high you’re in for? Today, we’re talking Terps Part 2 - and how a trained nose can be your new stoner super-power.

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TERPENES 101

I love a funky, gassy, skunky strain. Or the smell of a baggie full of weed that smells like cheese or garlic or straight-up pine tree.

My favorite strain has been the same for a long time now - the legendary and well-loved Chem-Dawg (and with respect to the legendary breeders at Top Dawg Seeds NYC - it’s dawg, not dog).

Chem-Dawg is a stinky, pungent piece of work with a name that’s perfect for its smell.
Back in the 90’s, Deadheads - fans of the legendary stoner-band The Grateful Dead - called the strain ‘dog bud’ because of its barking smell. At the same time, others were calling it ‘chem weed’ because of its uniquely gassy & sharp taste.
Chem-dawg’s top terpenes are Caryophyllene and Limonene, which gives it its skunky smell. The same terpenes that give this plant such a unique scent profile are the exact ones that cause its munchies-inducing, air-headed high as well.

Chem-dawg was the first strain I ever grew at home, and when I opened the flap of my grow tent, the scent of something a little gassy and nasty would hit my nose. And that's exactly the way I like it.
Now, I’m someone who swears by gassy, skunky, and funky strains - like Sour Diesel, Cheese, GMO, and OG Kush. 9 times out of 10, they have just the terps I’m looking for.

Other people may not agree. I know lots of other Budtenders who much prefer a sweet-tasting Strawberry Guava, or a tart-and-tangy smelling Granddaddy Purp.

Lots of smokers will be the first to tell you - The smell of a sweet, woody, even peppery strain can be a sign of great cannabis and good growing methods.

To the trained Canna-sseur, the smell coming off of cannabis is enough to tell you everything. Even down to exactly how that bud will make you feel.

But can you really sniff out buds by smell?

The answer is: absolutely.

Although it might not be immediately obvious, the aroma of your flower isn't all aesthetics. The same way the color of cannabis can tell you about the compounds it contains - did you know that scent can tell you even more?

To a seasoned stoner, what your weed smells like is enough to almost know exactly how it’ll make you feel.

I call it ‘The Art of Terp Tasting’
By training yourself to decipher the complex notes coming off of your weed and educating yourself on terpenes and their scents - before you know it, you'll begin to learn and identify the different terpene profiles you come across - and exactly the kind of highs you're in for. All from one whiff.

That's all thanks to terpenes and science.

(For the uninitiated, we give you the total run-down of terpenes in the CannaBible Terpenes 101 guide here - but to keep it simple: )

Terpenes - or just ‘terps’ - are naturally occurring compounds that are present everywhere in cannabis - and in other plants too. They’re what gives cannabis its distinct, pungent smell. The best breeders chase strains with a high percentage of terps - because consumers often test the quality of flower by smell even before their first smoke.

In cannabis, terps are a pretty big deal. But these curious compounds are even more notorious - and useful - than you might think.

Terpenes are unique because they not only affect the outside of cannabis but the inside too. And if you’re clever, you can take advantage of that.

If you can match the outside - the outside smell, that is - to the correct terpene by scent alone, you can take an educated guess on what you're about to smoke. It's a skill every stoner needs, and I recommend training your nose and truly ‘terp tasting’.

The better your noise is trained, and the more knowledge you know about terpenes - through research & experience - the easier it is for you take a whiff and make an impressively educated guess on its effects.

You wouldn't take a strain with limonene at a movie theatre at risk of nodding off. Or, if you want to get something done, you should probably stay away from anything that smells of pepper - the caryophyllene will give you couch-lock like no other.

This party trick can have some very practical uses. When you get two of your eighths mixed up, a whiff can tell you which one is your funky and woody Blue Cheese and which is your citrusy and sour-smelling Super Lemon Haze. When your bud guy is offering two or more varies, with no names to match, taking a second to smell each one to settle the situation quickly.

By understanding terpenes, the smells they make and the effects they'll give you, trying out new cannabis becomes a lot easier.

Asking the budtender what the bud smells like - or smelling it yourself, if you’re lucky enough - will tell you a lot of the things you need to know.

By attuning your senses to the strains and scents you like, buying bud becomes a breeze.

But what if all bud smells the same to you? Well, we’ve got you covered.

Why are Terpenes So Important?

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Here’s where terp-tasting comes in.

Think of your bud like a fine wine. You’re a fancy-ass wine taster, about to try a new bottle. You’re going to terp-taste it. Terp tasting involves getting your nose accustomed to different terpene profiles and their scents.

For this, you’ll preferably need whole flower - jarred if you can, but a baggie works fine.

With both your nose and mouth to the jar, part your lips and take a slow deep inhale. Breathe through both your nose and your mouth, feeling the air pass over your tongue. Close your eyes and focus on the scent and taste.

Do this a couple times, maybe even jotting down the notes you smell. Don’t forget to write down how the flower makes you feel too. From here, if you have the strain name you can search it up on resources like Leafly or Cyphr’s Strain School to confirm its top terpenes.

To taste terpenes in smoke, joints and glass pieces - like bongs and pipes - are recommended.

Why it works:

By breathing through your and your mouth as well, you take advantage of something called retronasal olfaction - the useful ability to smell and detect odors through the tastebuds of mouth. When you practice retronasal olfaction, the perception the brain receives is often taste, not scent - allowing you to get a fuller understanding of the terpene profile you’re smelling.

This essentially allows us to ‘taste’ the scent we’re experiencing. When you terp-taste this way you’re able to experience the scent deeper, because you’re using not one sense but two.

If you have a favorite strain, do this every time you open your jar up to sesh.

Train your nose to remember that smell. You’ll know if you smell something like it, there’s a good chance the terpenes inside are similar (though not exactly the same).

When you smoke on something new that strikes your fancy, take a terp-taste to sniff out the notes, and if you did your homework you can put together which terpene tastes like what.

If you're in a legalized state, take a look at the COAs (The Certificate of Analysis) that typically comes with any dispensary bud, usually in the form of a QR code. Most reputable COAs will list terpenes at the bottom too.

Talk to your budtender. Any budtender worth their salt will know some terpenes, and having a conversation about your terpene taste will definitely land you a strain that you love smoking.

That way, you can start to keep track of the terpenes that you particularly like and the scents that they give off. Or you can keep a nose out for things that smell alike if you're in a place that's not legal - even if you don’t know the strains names.

If your state lacks a legal market, every time you get home from picking up bud, close your eyes and take a good whiff.

Try to identify the different notes that you smell and from there, try to reverse engineer what terpene those could be. If you open a bag of something that smells a little bit skunky, chemically, and fresh, look for terpenes with that profile. Learn and match to better estimate what you've got in your bag.

Knowing terpenes off the top of your head makes terms like sativa and indica completely unnecessary.

When you're better at estimating the effects of a strain by nose, you'll know better next time you get a baggie from your dealer. So you don't end up smoking a bright limonene bowl before bed.

Terpenes takes the world of cannabis and its chemistry and cracks it wide open.

And now that you know more about the power of terps, all that's left is to learn them, to smoke them, to really experience them all.

Editor’s Note: But please, don’t be a scent snob. If you can, try something different than your usual Strawberry Cough and fruity named strains. From a lover of funky strains, don’t discount the pungent buds. GMO, Garlic Cookie, Chemdawg, Cheese - You know what I say when it comes to weed - ‘if it smells rank it’s probably dank’.