"Team work makes the dream work"
**Important to note: not every product containing cannabis will provide the Entourage Effect.**
Basic Understanding
The Entourage Effect occurs when the different compounds found in cannabis;
- THC
- CBD
- other minor cannabinoids
- Terpenes (terps)
- and more
work together to create a desired experience for the user.
Each individual compound contributes its own type of effects, however, the compounds also interact with each other, enhancing or suppressing certain effects and the combined results from those interactions play an additional role in a person response to the strain or product.
Diving Deeper
When I was a bud tender, most of the people that came in, primarily focused on THC percentage. This caused most of them to miss out on a wide variety of other strain options for their desired effects.
It is similar to picking a fine wine. While you keep the alcohol percentage in mind, you also look at the different flavors and notes that are in the wine, too. When choosing cannabis, treat it like choosing wine.
Terpenes (terps) do not produce a psychoactive effect on their own, they are simply aromatic. Compounds produced in the plants trichomes (the sparkly bits on your flower bud).
Terpenes (terps) and terp combinations help give cannabis strains specific, distinctive, or sometimes similar aromas, but terps are also an important contributor to the effects of a strain or product.
Each cannabis strain produces a multitude of different terps in unique combinations, and different combinations of terps can help produce different responses throughout the body.
This is why looking at the COA (certificate of analysis) is so important! It breaks down all of the compounds to make it easier for you to receive the benefits you are looking for.
Cannabinoids and Terpenes working together create the Entourage Effect. This enables you to experience effects that are specific to each strain or product. The various combinations of terpenes and cannabinoids create unique outcomes, and as a result, certain strains of cannabis may be able to, for example, provide relief from chronic pain more effectively than some other strains.
The interaction of terpenes with cannabinoids and other compounds creates unique effects and feelings, from cerebral to physiological, and varying from calm to sedated to happy and uplifted and everything in between.
Think of it like a venn diagram. Cannabinoids on one end, Terpenes on the other, and the Entourage Effect in the center.
Some studies show that terpenes can aid in the way that THC interacts with our Endocannabinoid System. Terpenes have been shown to help THC bind more effectively to CB1 receptors - see last weeks YouTube video to dive deeper into the Endocannabinoid System and its receptors - in essence, the terpenes help give the THC and other cannabinoids added impact.
Fun Fact: beta-Caryophyllene is the only known terpene that is able to directly interact with the ECS (Endocannabinoid System), binding to CB2 receptors to help block the sensation of pain and aid with anti-inflammatory illnesses and autoimmune disorders.
THC and other cannabinoids can be thought of as the fuel that drives the car, but the terpenes are the steering wheel - high-potency fuel will drive the car faster and farther, but the steering wheel guides the car in the desired direction.
Graph
Terpenes -------------------------- Cannabis ------------------------------- Flavonoids
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CBD ------ Phytocannabinoids ------- THC
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CBD CBDV CBG CBC CBN THCA THCV 9-THC
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