Terpinolene is a cyclic monoterpene with a complex smell: fresh, herbal, piney, with citrus and floral notes, sometimes described as smelling like apple, lilac or cleaning products. It occurs in tea tree, lilac and conifers. In cannabis it marks one of the few clearly separate terpene chemotypes in market surveys.
In practice
Smith et al. (2022) found that commercial US flower clusters into a small number of terpene groups, and terpinolene-dominant samples formed one of the distinct, less common groups, alongside the large myrcene and caryophyllene/limonene groups. Terpinolene-dominant flower often carries ocimene and myrcene too. It's volatile, so drying and storage conditions show strongly in the readings.
Don't confuse with
- Terpinene (alpha, gamma): related isomers, usually minor on panels.
- Terpineol: a terpene alcohol with a lilac smell.
- Myrcene: frequently present in the same samples, but a different chemotype.
Myth check
Terpinolene-dominant flower is often sold as "sativa". House position: indica/sativa labels don't predict chemistry or effects. See Mythbusters.
A monoterpene is a ten-carbon terpene made from geranyl pyrophosphate, such as myrcene, limonene, pinene or terpinolene; they are the most volatile terpenes and the first lost in drying.Terpenes are volatile hydrocarbon compounds built from five-carbon isoprene units; in cannabis they are made in the trichome heads and are a major part of aroma and flavour.A chemotype is a plant's chemical phenotype, in cannabis usually its dominant cannabinoid class: THC-dominant (I), mixed (II), CBD-dominant (III), CBG-dominant (IV) or cannabinoid-free (V).Myrcene (beta-myrcene) is a monoterpene with a musky, earthy, ripe-fruit aroma and is the most common dominant terpene in commercial cannabis flower.Beta-caryophyllene is a spicy, peppery sesquiterpene common in cannabis, notable as a dietary terpene that also binds the CB2 receptor in laboratory studies.Limonene is a monoterpene with a citrus aroma, found in citrus peel and many cannabis cultivars, where it is often among the top three terpenes.Ocimene is a sweet, green, herbal monoterpene, usually reported as beta-ocimene isomers, that often accompanies terpinolene in cannabis profiles.A terpene profile is the measured mix of terpenes in a sample, reported as each compound's % w/w and the total, used to describe and compare cultivar aroma chemistry.Alpha-pinene is a bicyclic monoterpene with a sharp pine-resin aroma, the main terpene of conifer needles and a common, usually secondary, terpene in cannabis.
