By Luke Sumpter

No other plant smells quite like cannabis. The flowers of this species are packed with aromatic molecules, including (but not exclusively) terpenes. As well as offering delightful scents, terpenes directly contribute[1] to the subjective effects of weed.

Cannabis aromatics smell great and make for more pleasant highs. So, it makes sense to do everything you can to preserve them. But why does weed lose its smell?


A Primer on Cannabis Terpenes

Cannabis plants are chemical biofactories that produce over 400 chemical compounds[2]. Only a handful of these molecules receive the attention of contemporary cannabis culture, particularly THC and CBD. However, modern cannabis science has discovered that many compounds work in unison to produce the unique effects of each cultivar.

Among these constituents, terpenes play an important role. Cannabis plants produce over 150[3] of these volatile aromatic chemicals. These compounds underpin much of the aroma of particular cannabis strains. However, they also directly contribute to the high. The entourage effect theory posits that terpenes and cannabinoids, such as THC, amplify each other’s actions.

Terpenes play an important role in the cannabis experience. However, their volatile nature means they readily degrade. As a grower and smoker, there are various steps you can take to preserve these compounds, resulting in tastier and stronger weed.

Cannabis Terpenes
Cannabis Terpenes

The Role of Terpenes in Cannabis Plants

Before we delve into combating terpene degradation, let’s quickly cover the roles of terpenes in cannabis plants. Understanding their functions in plant physiology will give you even more of an appreciation for those delightful smells during the flowering phase!

The major roles of terpenes in weed plants include:

  • UV protection: Terpenes act as a natural sunscreen for plants. While plants need light to create energy, certain wavelengths can cause harm. Terpenes help to absorb and dissipate UV light.
  • Pollinator attraction: Most cannabis growers try to avoid pollination when growing weed. However, cannabis plants want nothing more than to reproduce. Terpenes help them to achieve this goal by attracting pollinating insects, including bees.
  • Pest deterrence: The potent odour produced by terpenes helps to protect cannabis plants against pest insects and larger herbivores.
  • Plant-to-plant communication: Plants use terpenes as a chemical language. They release these compounds to warn each other about grazing predators.
  • Bacteria farming: Yes, you read that right. Cannabis plants farm bacteria in their trichomes. These microbes pull in nitrogen from the atmosphere, and trichome cells give them carbon for their hard work. Terpenes help to protect these bacteria[4] from oxidation.

Cannabis Aroma: More Than Mere Terpenes

Sure, terpenes play a fundamental role when it comes to cannabis aroma—but they don’t work alone. Several other categories of compounds contribute to the nuanced scents of weed strains.

Other important players include:

  • Volatile sulphur compounds: Also known as VSCs, these molecules pack a pungent punch. They underpin the skunk-like aromas found in many cannabis cultivars.
  • Esters: This class of organic compounds plays an important role in plant physiology. They help to create fats and are important in hormone signalling and seed germination. In other plants, such as strawberries and bananas, they also contribute to their signature aroma. In cannabis, they provide sweet and fruity notes.

Persevering the aroma of your cannabis buds helps to shield these compounds, too. Use the tips below to protect the terpenes, VSCs, and esters in your weed. Trust us, you’ll taste the difference!

Ready to lock in every drop of aroma? Download our Pro Growing Guide for expert drying and curing methods, precise humidity targets, storage protocols, and environmental controls that preserve terpenes, VSCs, and esters from harvest to jar.

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How to Preserve Aromatic Cannabis Chemicals During Harvesting

There are many exciting moments during the cannabis growing cycle, but they all pale in comparison to harvest time! Chopping and trimming buds feels satisfying, but it can negatively influence aroma if performed incorrectly. You need to exercise caution when processing your buds to protect the precious aromatic compounds. Follow the tips below to achieve the best-smelling buds possible.

Protect Your Trichomes

Trichomes are small mushroom-shaped glands that give buds their frosty appearance. These tiny chemical factories are tasked with producing cannabinoids and terpenes. You need to protect them at all costs to preserve the aroma of your cannabis flowers.

Try to avoid touching buds during flowering to avoid damaging them. And during harvest, handle with great care. Be as gentle as possible when touching your buds, and avoid dropping and shaking.

Cannabis Trichomes
Cannabis Trichomes

To Flush or Not to Flush?

Flushing involves withholding nutrients from plants during the last few weeks of flowering. A debate rages around this topic; some growers swear by it while others are firmly against it. Regardless of where you stand, flushing could help to boost the aroma of your weed plants.

Restricting nutrients forces cannabis plants to use up their internal shops before harvest. These nutrients contribute harshness and bitterness to buds. By facilitating their removal, growers increase the concentration of aromatic molecules by dry weight.

Trim Your Weed

Trimming flowers of their small sugar leaves is a standard practice among cannabis growers. While sugar leaves contain small amounts of terpenes and aromatics, they also feature plenty of nitrogen and other nutrients. Trimming away sugar leaves will increase the concentration of aromatics within each bud by dry weight. The result? Flowers that taste better, with a stronger aroma.

Video id: 753816362

Dry Buds to Banish Moisture

The work doesn’t stop at harvest time. You’ll need to dry your weed buds correctly to preserve them and eliminate the chances of mould. Fail here, and you’ll end up with bud that has a musty and grassy smell that overpowers the aromas of terpenes, VSCs, and esters.

Video id: 484380359

Cure Your Weed to Enhance Aroma

Curing cannabis buds vastly improves their aroma and helps to preserve terpenes. Chemical changes occur in the flowers during this time; the chlorophyll breaks down—removing the grassy flavour—allowing terpenes and other aromatics to dominate when it's time to smoke. By allowing your buds to cure for at least four weeks, you can increase the smell of your stash significantly.

Video id: 509743497

Store Your Weed Correctly

Terpenes are volatile compounds. It doesn’t take much to cause them to degrade, which can greatly impact the aroma of your buds. Light and air are two of the biggest culprits that negatively influence terpene profiles. To protect against these factors, store your buds in a cool and dark place in an airtight glass jar or other suitable storage container.

How to Enhance Cannabis Aroma When Smoking

Now you’re aware of how to preserve the aroma of your cannabis flowers during harvest time and directly after. Next, we’re going to cover some tips when it comes to smoking the fruits of your labour. Follow this advice to unlock the tastiest experience possible.

Use a Grinder

The time of preserving trichomes is over—you’re about to set them on fire, after all. Grind up your weed before loading it into joints and bong bowls. This will increase the surface area of your flower material. It’ll burn more evenly and allow for a more even release of aromatic compounds. There are many different types of grinders available, from basic acrylic models to more complex metal designs that collect errant trichomes in a dedicated chamber.

Use Lighter Alternatives

Traditional lighters can impact aroma and taste during a smoking session. Fuelled by butane, they can introduce a slight fuel odour into the mix. To avoid this, opt for gas-free natural alternatives. Try lighting up a piece of hemp wick and using this to combust your weed for improved scents and tastes.

Clean Your Smoking Accessories

As you’re aware, cannabis is a sticky plant indeed. Residue quickly builds up in pipes, bongs, and vaporizers. Make sure to regularly clean your smoking gear to avoid nasty flavours and aromas from intruding on your smoking experience. Put in the work frequently, and you’ll enjoy a fresh and untainted experience every time.

Choose Vaping Instead of Smoking

Vaping and smoking are two very different ways of consuming cannabis. They both involve inhalation of cannabis components, but subject the cannabis to vastly different temperatures. Smoking uses very high temperatures to combust weed, meaning you’ll inhale much more than cannabinoids and terpenes. In contrast, vaping uses lower temperatures to target THC and aromatic molecules, without igniting additional flower material. Not only does this result in superior taste, but it smells nicer to many cannabis users, too.

PAX 2 Vaporizer
56_1 Heat Conduction
57_2 Size 3,1 x 2 x 9,8 cm
58_Effect 90 gr
59_4 Temperature 182 - 215ºC / 360 - 420ºF
60_5 Heat Up Time 60 sec
61_6 Chamber Size 0,3 gr
62_7 Control type Manual
63_8 Used With Dry Herbs

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Enjoy Better Flavours and Aromas When You Blaze

It takes a considerable amount of effort to raise a seed into a mature cannabis plant. After all of that work, you owe it to yourself to do all you can to preserve the aromas and flavour of your precious buds. During harvest, make sure to handle your flowers gently to protect the trichomes and ensure you dry and cure correctly. When consuming weed, use a grinder and light joints and bong bowls with hemp wick instead of traditional lighters. Now, go savour some aromatic molecules!

External Resources:
  1. Psychoactives | Free Full-Text | The Nose Knows: Aroma, but Not THC Mediates the Subjective Effects of Smoked and Vaporized Cannabis Flower https://www.mdpi.com
  2. Chemistry, Metabolism, and Toxicology of Cannabis: Clinical Implications - PMC https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
  3. Terpenes in Cannabis sativa – From plant genome to humans https://www.sciencedirect.com
  4. Histochemical Evidence for Nitrogen-Transfer Endosymbiosis in Non-Photosynthetic Cells of Leaves and Inflorescence Bracts of Angiosperms - PMC https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
Disclaimer:
This content is for educational purposes only. The information provided is derived from research gathered from external sources.

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Privacy Policy - Royal Queen Seeds

To ensure a safe online environment and guarantee adequate data protection, we strictly comply with all legal requirements. In this privacy statement, we provide information about how and for what purpose data is collected, safety measures, storage periods and contact details.


COMPANY NAME: SNORKEL SPAIN, SL (hereinafter ROYAL QUEEN SEEDS)

C/ Vilar d'Abdelà, 5 (nave 1) CP: 08170 de Montornès del Vallès

+34 937 379 846

support@royalqueenseeds.com


The present Privacy Policy sets out the terms on which we will treat personal data at ROYAL QUEEN SEEDS; this includes any personal data collected through our website https://www.royalqueenseeds.com/ as well as any other data we process in the course of our business activities.

ROYAL QUEEN SEEDS collects the following personal data for the purposes listed below:

SECTION 1 – PERSONAL INFORMATION WE COLLECT

1.1 Account purchases

Account purchases can only be made if you are in possession of a personal account. When you create an account or purchase something from our shop, as part of the buying and selling process we collect the following personal information that you provide to us:

This information is required for delivery. In addition, when you browse our shop, we automatically receive the Internet Protocol (IP) address of your computer. Based on this information, we can optimise your online experience and at the same time protect our online environment.

Purpose of data collection

We collect and store account-related data for the following purposes:

(a) to carry out obligations arising from any contracts between you and us, and to provide you with information, products and services that you may request from us;

(b) to set up, manage and communicate with you about your account and your orders;

(c) to conduct market research and analysis;

(d) to confirm your age and identity, and to detect and prevent fraud.

1.2 Newsletters

With your explicit permission, we may send you newsletters about our shop, new products and other updates. We send newsletters based on your explicit consent. In the event that you purchase a product, and in accordance with current regulations, we may send you commercial communications in accordance with the legitimate interest of our company, always about products or services similar to those you have purchased or contracted. In any case, you may exercise your right of opposition through the channels announced in this Privacy Policy. The following information is collected in relation to the newsletter:

We do not need to know the sex of the person in order to send the newsletter (data minimisation: by law we must ask for data that is strictly necessary to provide the service, and in this case knowing the sex is not necessary to send the newsletter).

Purpose of data collection

The data collected is used to:

(a) personalise our emails, including your name and gender;

(b) provide gender-specific content.

You can withdraw your consent at any time by using the link provided in the newsletter or the contact information provided in section 2.

1.3 Customer service and contact form

In order to provide appropriate support, our customer service employees have access to information related to the account. Consequently, their support will be highly effective and friendly. The data provided in our contact form is used by our CRM provider, SuperOffice. We will only use your details to respond to your message.

SECTION 2 – LEGITIMATE INTEREST

If you have purchased any of our products, please note that we may process your personal data for promotional purposes, based on Royal Queen Seeds' legitimate interest only to offer you products or services from our company and about products or services similar to those you have purchased. You may exercise your right to opt out of future messages by the means set out in this Privacy Policy or through any notification you receive.

2.1 How do you withdraw consent?

If you change your mind, you can withdraw your consent for us to contact you for the purpose of collecting, using, or disclosing your data at any time by reaching out to us at: support@royalqueenseeds.com.

SECTION 3 – DISCLOSURE

We may disclose your personal information if we are required to do so by law or if you breach our Terms of Service.

SECTION 4 – HOW LONG DO WE KEEP YOUR DATA?

At Royal Queen Seeds, we will not retain your data for longer than is necessary for the purposes described in this Policy. Different retention periods apply for different types of data; however, the longest period we will normally hold any personal data is 10 years.

4.1 Account information

Data relating to the account remains relevant for as long as the consumer is in possession of an account. Therefore, the data remains documented for as long as the account exists. When our customers delete an account, the associated data will be deleted within a reasonable period of time. Requests regarding the inspection or correction of stored personal data or the deletion of an account can be sent to support@royalqueenseeds.com.

4.2 Newsletters

In the event that you give us your consent to inform you about our products or services, we will keep your data until you express your wish not to receive any further communications from us. However, we regularly (every month) carry out a relevance check. Registered customers (and their personal information) will be deleted whenever customers do not reply to our request. In addition, our newsletter mailing has an opt-out feature. Consumers can withdraw their consent by using this opt-out feature.

SECTION 5 – COOKIES

Cookies are small information files that notify your computer of previous interactions with our website. These cookies are stored on your hard drive, not on our website. Essentially, when you use our website, your computer displays its cookies to us, informing our site that you have visited before. This allows our website to function more quickly and remember aspects related to your previous visits (such as your username), making your experience more convenient. At Royal Queen Seeds, we use two types of cookies: functional and analytical.

5.1 Functional Cookies

Functional cookies are used to enhance your online experience. Among other things, these cookies track what is added to your shopping cart. The use of these cookies does not require prior authorization.

5.2 Analytical Cookies

Analytical cookies are used for research and market analysis. The data collected with these analytical cookies is anonymous, making it unusable for third parties. The use of these cookies does not require prior authorization.

SECTION 5 – THIRD-PARTY SERVICES

Third-party services are required to conduct transactions and provide our services. In general, the third-party providers we use will only collect, use and disclose your information to the extent necessary to enable them to perform the services they provide to us.

However, certain third-party service providers, such as payment gateways and other payment transaction processors, have their own privacy policies regarding the information we must provide to them for your transactions.

We encourage you to read the privacy policies of these providers so that you can understand how these providers will handle your personal information.

In particular, certain suppliers may be located or have facilities located in a different jurisdiction than yours or ours. Therefore, if you choose to proceed with a transaction involving the services of a third party, your information may be subject to the laws of the jurisdiction in which that service provider or its facilities are located.

Once you leave our website or are redirected to a third-party website or application, you are no longer governed by this Privacy Policy or the Terms of Service of our website.

Web analytics service (anonymous data)

On this website we have integrated an element of a web analytics service (with anonymisation functionality). Web analytics can be defined as the gathering, processing and analysis of data about the behaviour of visitors to websites. An analytics service collects, among other things, data about which website a person came from (the so-called referrer), which sub-pages they visited or how often and for how long they visited a sub-page. Web analytics is mainly used for website optimisation and for a cost–benefit analysis of internet advertising.

Courier service

To complete deliveries we use a courier service. This courier service carries out the delivery between our company and the consumer's home. To complete these logistics, the company requires access to the consumer's name and address information.

Mailing service

Royal Queen Seeds uses a third-party mail service provider to send its newsletter. This provider has access to limited account information related to opt-in consent (e.g. email address).

Marketing services

Royal Queen Seeds has the support of a company that specialises in marketing and communication activities. Their access to personal information is very limited and mostly anonymous.

Payment services

At Royal Queen Seeds we use external payment services to handle our transactions (e.g. credit card payments).

SECTION 6 – SECURITY

To protect your personal information, we take reasonable precautions and follow industry standard best practices to ensure that it is not inappropriately lost, misused, accessed, disclosed, altered or destroyed.

If you provide us with your credit card information, the information is encrypted using secure socket layer technology (SSL) and stored using AES-256 encryption. Although no method of transmission over the internet or electronic storage is 100% secure, we follow all PCI-DSS requirements and implement additional industry standards that are commonly accepted. Information related to the account is protected with a hashing method. This method transforms the information into a generated hash. As a result, confidential information is protected and invisible, even to us. In addition, our databases are exceptionally protected against unauthorised access. For example, access to the database is only possible and permitted via approved IP addresses (e.g. from Royal Queen Seeds headquarters). Other attempts and addresses are rejected at all times.

Furthermore, data is anonymised as much as possible, so it cannot be directly linked to a specific consumer. With this data, however, we may be able to carry out market research and analysis. In addition, the third parties concerned (e.g. mailing service) are examined prior to our collaboration, comply with the GDPR from the EU and receive a processing agreement. Within Royal Queen Seeds, employees are assigned different access permissions. Specific permission provides access only to information that is strictly required to perform a task. Digital security measures are subject to change and must meet high requirements to ensure the safety of online customers. That is why, at Royal Queen Seeds, we appoint a security officer. Regular verification and improvement of security measures (where necessary) are part of the role.

SECTION 7 – CHANGES TO THIS PRIVACY POLICY

We reserve the right to modify this Privacy Policy at any time, so please check back regularly. Changes and clarifications will be effective immediately upon being published on the Website. If we make substantial changes to this policy, we will notify you here that it has been updated so you will know what information we collect, how we use it and under what circumstances, if any, we use and/or disclose it.

SECTION 8 – YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO: