Trichomes hold the magic. They’re resin-filled glands that grow on cannabis flowers. They stick, they taste bitter, and they’re sticky, so they discourage animals and insects from eating them. Trichomes produce the cannabinoids like THC, CBD, and at least 120 others. Trichomes also produce terpenes. Terpenes are responsible for that familiar fragrance, like a Pink Floyd concert. Cannabinoids and Terpenes are what produce effects you’re familiar with.

Selecting breeding has enhanced the active ingredients in the cannabis flower by a factor of five since 2009. We hand-trim all of our harvested buds as opposed to machine trimmed. The trichomes and terpenes at the heart of the flower are fragile and must be dried slowly to maintain optimum potency.

The leaves, although pretty actually contain very little THC. Those serrated, seven-pointed leaves are actually the power station of the plant. The leaves take energy from the sun and directs its to the “sugar” leaves that encapsulate the flower buds. As we’ve discussed above, the buds are where the sticky, bitter medicines are generated.

That familiar sweet, thick, sticky smell; terpenes. Terpenes affect the flavor and aroma of a cannabis plant. If you’re familiar with that fragrance, we know you have an opinion about it. You like it… or you really, really don’t. This is where researchers are starting to investigate for the next modern-day therapeutic compounds. Limonene, a lemony-smelling terpene is getting credited with feelings of alertness and stress relief. Where pinene, a pine-smelling terpene is being accredited with aiding with anxiety and physical pain relief. As science unlocks the secrets of the over 500 potentially active ingredients in the cannabis bud, there’s only more to explore and more to do.