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What You Should Know About Terpenes Terpene Warehouse’s Cesare Bonventre explains why natural terpenes are always the best option. Terpenes. It’s a word thrown around the cannabis industry so often, and it’s unlikely many people even know what it means. To learn precisely what terpenes are and why you should care, we spoke to Terpene Warehouse Partner and ICannaGroup Co-Owner Cesare Bonventre. This is especially important in Washington state, where in 2019, the government enacted a temporary ban on noncannabis terpenes in vaping products. However, there was no evidence at the time that showed that only allowing cannabisderived terpenes would make vaping products safer.
flavor and aroma, as opposed to 90-percent pure, which has much less aroma and flavor.” Synthetic “terpenes” provide a product that has almost no impurities at all, except for the trace amounts left behind in the process of synthesizing the compound. Given what we know about purity and flavor, it makes sense that synthetic blends would not be very flavorful without flavoring additives. However, Bonventre cautions against the use of synthetic terpenes. “Most of the information out there from the FDA are in regards to synthetic versions of terpenes such as synthetic Myrcene (banned by the FDA), EthylAcrylate, Methyl Eugenol, Pulegone, Pyridine, and Benzophenone. All have been found to cause cancer in high concentrations,” according to FDA studies using lab rats.
“The first thing I like to educate people on is that although all of us on the terpene side of the industry refer to our blends as simply ‘terpenes,’ they are actually a blend of several classes of organic chemical compounds,” Bonventre explained. He continued to say that terpenes can broadly describe monoterpenes and sesquiterpenes, but many of the compounds they work with are terpenes, esters, alcohols, ketones, lactones, thiols, and more. After that clarification, Bonventre went on to explain to us the three different types of terpenes. Cannabis-derived “terpenes” (CDT) are chemical compounds extracted directly from cannabis trim or flower. Bonventre likes to refer to the compounds as a “soup” that contains compounds such as phytols that may have some residual plant material and chlorophyll, and possibly some flavonoids along with the terpenes, thiols, esters, alcohols, ketones, etc., depending on the extraction method used. Botanically derived “terpenes” (BDT) are blends of aromatic compounds. According to Bonventre, it’s the impurities in BDT that bring about more fruity and citrus aromas. “The 84
Cannabis & Tech Today // Fall 2021
For this reason, Bonventre and Terpene Warehouse have dedicated themselves to naturally derived ingredients. “We strongly believe that if we as an industry are set on fighting for our rights and freedom to consume a plant that grows naturally, we should also demand that our terpenes are derived from natural sources, regardless of whether that be botanically derived or cannabis derived.” impurities in the different compounds, depending on what they are derived from, often contain complex essential oils that taste or smell like the plant they come from,” he explained. As an illustration, he said that Terpene Warehouse buys the sesquiterpene Valencene at 55-percent purity instead of 90-percent. “Valencene is derived from valencia oranges and grapefruits, so when we get 55-percent pure valencene, we get a product that is packed with
Even though we talk about terpenes so often in this industry, Bonventre acknowledges we still have a lot to learn. “These impurities are what we need to learn more about. As technology improves and GCMS and HPLC equipment become more advanced, we’ll be better equipped to dig deep into what all these impurities are … With there still being so much left to learn, we need to work together for the common goal of safety for all.” ❖
