Terpenes — cannabis seeds by aroma
Strains grouped by dominant terpene: myrcene, limonene, caryophyllene and more. The terpene shapes aroma and character.
Terpenes are volatile aromatic compounds the plant produces in the same glands as cannabinoids. They, not THC, decide what a strain smells like: citrus, pepper, conifer or soil. A flower typically carries one to three percent of them by weight, and the ratio between them differs from cultivar to cultivar — that ratio is the terpene profile, and it is what separates two strains with identical THC on the nose.
Terpenes are volatile and leave under heat: boiling points of the common molecules sit roughly between 106 and 198 °C. The profile of a strain therefore depends heavily on the drying regime and storage conditions — careless drying erases exactly what the strain was chosen for.