For Cannabis, Strain names don’t matter; Terpenes do.

Cannabis Strain Names Don’t Matter; Terpenes Do.

I love a good strain name. I’ve bought so many grams based on a good name alone. What geek could resist Doctor Who? How could one pass up “Key Lime Pie” when about to bake the same confection? But what’s in that name? Even a preliminary web search will show you not much, despite what many may tell you. Strain names do start to take on more meaning is when you couple them with the farm or producer’s name, which is where you can expect more consistency in product.

In other words, until the entire cannabis genome is mapped and all of our product is consistently tested — don’t expect GG#4 to be the same across a state or across the country. Think about how variable plants are, how you can have two nearly identical houseplants in the same space that grow completely different ways — and you can begin to understand why strain names don’t have consistency industry-wide.

Strain names are catchy and branding is hot; but names give little insight to actual effects.

There are certainly many reasons that people would love to give you to follow a strain name, just ask anyone working in an effort to store and categorize information on cannabis — be that Leafly or at the state level. Given the variability that has been in strain names, and even the loss of some of cannabis’ genetics — it’s pretty vital that the consumer understand that these names should be taken with a bit of skepticism. What can be helpful in consumers hoping to get a consistent experience is linking the strain name with the farm name — it is far more likely to have consistency in a strain at a single farm, than even across a state.

Terpene profiles tell more about effects than strain names.

If you are looking to ensure that you get a similar experience from bowl to bowl (or are looking to avoid certain effects like paranoia, or boost others like energy), then the best thing to use would be the terpene profile of the plant. Many dispensaries are beginning to carry this information, but it’s also vital for customers to know that the profiling may not have been performed on the batch that you are about to consume, but on a genetically related plant. Additionally, I suspect that, hopefully, once cannabis is removed from Schedule 1 and we are able to study its medicinal uses more depth, that we will begin to understand more and more about how it can affect us, and will add more terpenes to our list.

As more and more people are driven from the broken US healthcare system and towards having their health in their own hands, that there will be an even greater need for consistency in strains and their effects. As cannabis is legalized for recreational uses in more and more states, more consumers will be looking for a reliable way to get the effects they are seeking. After all, the reason that people do drugs is because drugs work. The best way currently to ensure consistency of product, especially if you are looking for medicinal uses of cannabis, is to explore terpene profiles while journaling experiences to determine what works best for you.