Terpenes: either you love them, or you don’t know what they are yet.

If you fall into the latter camp, we’re here to help. Terpenes are aromatic chemical compounds that give all plants – not just cannabis – their distinct taste, smell, and effects. They’re responsible for scents like pine and lavender (they’re often used to make air fresheners!) as well as the bitter taste of the hops in your favorite IPA.

When it comes to cannabis, terpenes are a big part of the reason some strains make you feel sleepy or subdued, while others might set your mind racing with inspiration. We’ve rounded up a few of the most commonly asked questions (and answers) about how terpenes work, whether they affect your edibles, and why Wana puts more than thirty of them in almost every Gummy we make.

Can Edibles Contain Terpenes?

Terpenes occur naturally in the cannabis plant, which means that every strain of flower you’ve ever smoked has been chock full of them. But some people don’t believe terpenes can be present in edibles. Thankfully, science says otherwise!

The misconception that edibles can’t contain terpene probably comes from the fact that most commercially available edibles are made using THC distillate. This means that manufacturers isolate – or literally distill – the THC or other cannabinoids from the plant, a process which strips away the terpenes and other additional compounds.

But good news: it’s possible to reintroduce these terpenes at a later stage of the cooking process, as long as temperatures remain below the terps’ boiling point. We’ve even tested this with our own gummies – each of which includes a proprietary blend of 30+ reintroduced terpenes. Partnering with our friends at Niva Labs, we took samples of our gummy mixture every 2 minutes as it cooked, from the moment the terpenes were added until after the gummies were cooled and ready to eat. Niva’s analysis found NO meaningful degradation of terps – they were present in the same concentration and ratios at the end as they were at the start.

Bottom line: terpenes don’t “naturally” occur in distillate edibles the way they do in flower. But once they’re invited in, they make themselves right at home.

But Do Terpenes Actually WORK in Edibles?

Some people argue that, even if terpenes can be added to distillate gummies, they won’t have the same effects as when you inhale them. Admittedly, there’s not a lot of research on this question, especially when it comes to the terpenes found in cannabis.

That said, there have been numerous peer-reviewed studies about how terpenes affect you when ingested in non-canna contexts… and we’ve got no reason to believe terps would behave any differently in edibles than they would in orally administered supplements. A few examples”

• THIS STUDY demonstrates the presence of terpenes in the blood after oral administration of Mastiha (a Mediterranean plant that produces terpene-rich resins).

• THIS ONE suggests that the terpene linalool has a clinical impact on lessening anxiety when orally ingested.

• And THIS ONE orally administered the terpene citral to lab rats. It found 10% of the original terp dose in the rats’ blood after ingestion. Which may not seem like much, but it’s actually about the same amount you’d see from orally ingesting cannabinoids like THC.

Although more research is needed, existing evidence seems to indicate that reintroduced terpenes can still deliver unique effects (like relaxation or inspiration), even when they’re ingested rather than inhaled.

Are Cannabis-Derived Terpenes Are Better than Botanically Derived?

The short answer is: no.

“Cannabis-derived terpenes” refers to terps that have been extracted directly from a cannabis plant. “Botanically-derived terpenes,” on the other hand,” can be extracted from any plant – like fruit or hops or pine.

Some people think that cannabis-derived terpenes deliver a better experience. But this simply doesn’t make sense. On a molecular level, terpenes are the same no matter where they come from – for example, the compound linalool produces the same effects whether you extract it from a lavender plant or a field of Kush. The kind of plant you extract the terpene from won’t make a difference as far as how the terps ultimately make you make you feel.

And actually, there’s a pretty big disadvantage that comes with using terpenes derived only from cannabis. For one thing, they’re harder to come by, which can cause supply issues and price markups. For another, cannabis strains evolve slightly from harvest to harvest – meaning that the terpene profile of even one specific strain might change over time. So to use only the terpenes extracted from that strain might produce different effects with each new batch of edibles.

At Wana, we want to offer our customers consistent results every time. While our terpene blends do mirror the combinations found in leading Sativa, Indica, or Hybrid cannabis strains, we derive the terps themselves from botanical sources like fruit. Unlike a cannabis crop, botanical sources provide us with an unlimited supply of the terpenes we need. They also allow us to recreate the same precise combinations – and, by extension, their effects – over and over again.

How Does Wana Select Terpenes?

Wana’s distillate gummies come in three class-specific proprietary blends – relaxing Indica, uplifting Sativa, and Balanced Hybrid. Each contains more than 30 unique terpenes in various formulations – up to 5x more than most competing brands.

When Wana’s Innovation team was first developing these recipes, they partnered with a leading terpene research company called Abstrax. Together, the teams interviewed some of California’s most knowledgeable budtenders about their favorite indica, sativa, and hybrid cultivars.

Abstrax then analyzed the terpene profiles of those cultivars and used their findings to build three class-specific formulations based on their findings. Thus, our beloved custom terpene blends were born!

At the end of the day, we just love terps and want our customers to experience all the nuance they can bring to an edibles experience. If you’ve got more questions, feel free to ask using the chat feature on our homepage, or just DM us on Instagram at the handle @wanabrands.

We promise, we’re always ready to talk terpenes.