Dr. Wise was quoted in this article in regards to the variables that effect terpene profiles in plants.
If plants with the same genetic makeup are grown outdoors versus indoors, “you can end up with different terpene profiles at the end because temperature, growing medium, nutrients, sunlight, all kinds of things affect the terpene profile of plants,” Wise says.
Full-spectrum terpenes from cannabis contain many compounds some at very low, but important levels. We test for 22 terpenes! Knowing the diversity of your strain is very important. Also, highlighted in this article are some of the terpenes that have health benefits.
Dr. Wise was also quoted concerning our knowledge about vaping terpenes or the degradation products that might form after high heat exposure. Medicine Creek Analytics will be the first lab in WA to have a smoke machine to test for some of these products.
“We’ve seen concentrations of up to 20% terpenes in some formulations,” Wise says. Such high levels of terpenes are “terrifying from a public health standpoint,” she says. Terpenes are typically found in cannabis flowers at levels of 2–5%.
“We don’t know anything about vaping terpenes or the degradation products that they might form after high heat exposure,” Wise says. Terpenes are highly reactive molecules that isomerize and interact with O2, she notes. But “it is a big unknown as to what happens when you heat them up, smoke them, or vape them,” she says. Variability of vape-oil composition makes it particularly challenging to study terpenes’ health effects.
Medicine Creek Analytics is devoted to the expansion of scientific knowledge in our cannabis community.