Terpene Library

Bisabolol is chamomile — the tea, and the smell of it steeping. It comes from only two notable sources, chamomile and the Brazilian candeia tree, which makes it the most narrowly sourced terpene we list. In cannabis it's soft, sweet and faintly floral, and easy to miss under louder company.

Crack black peppercorns and lean over the grinder — that hot, dry bite in your nose is caryophyllene. It's in cloves, cinnamon, oregano and basil: the spice-rack terpene. In cannabis it's why some strains smell less like fruit and more like something cooking.

Geraniol is rose. It's the molecule behind rose oil and geranium, it's what citronella candles are built on, and it's the sweet note in some pipe tobaccos. In cannabis it's rare and immediately recognisable: a jar that smells faintly of a flower shop.

Linalool is lavender. Not like lavender — it's the same molecule, which is why a linalool-heavy strain can smell like a drawer sachet or a bar of expensive soap. Mint, coriander and cinnamon carry it too, but it's the lavender people recognise.

You already know what myrcene smells like. It's the heavy, faintly sweet earthiness of a ripe mango, the back half of a hop flower, the smell of a bay leaf when you crush it between your fingers. In cannabis it's usually the most abundant terpene in the jar — in plenty of strains it's more than half the total terpene load. A lot of what people call "that weed smell" is really just myrcene.

Nerolidol is bark and blossom at the same time. It's in neroli — orange blossom — as well as jasmine, ginger and lemongrass, and it smells like fresh-cut wood with something floral behind it. In cannabis it usually works as a background note, giving depth rather than character.

Terpineol is lilac and lime blossom — sweet, floral, faintly soapy in the way good soap is soapy. It's also in pine and eucalyptus, which is strange company for a flower note, and it's part of why some pine-forward strains have an unexpected sweetness underneath.