Aroma More Important To Cannabis Flower Appeal Than THC: New Research
Cannabtimes

<![CDATA[The debate amongst cannabis enthusiasts is ongoing: What determines ‘quality’ cannabis? Is it THC percentage? Is it the terpenes? Or is it something else?The answer is right in front of your face: Your nose. Smell and/or aroma are the defining characteristics of ‘quality’ cannabis, according to newly published research.The report, “The Nose Knows: Aroma, but Not THC, Mediates The Subjective Effects of Smoked and Vaporized Cannabis Flower,” was published this month in the journal Psychoactives and authored by Dr. Ethan Russo, Jeremy Plumb, Shaban Demirel, Jeremy Sackett, and Adrianne Wilson-Poe.The report sought to define what “quality” cannabis means, noting that “studies have shown that cannabis consumers are willing to pay more money for higher-quality products … THC potency has been adopted as the primary marketing-driving feature of cannabis products.”The research studied 276 volunteers, who each randomly received a sample kit containing eight to 10 random samples of cannabis flower, weighing about 1 gram each, in sealed glass jars. Volunteers were given 30-plus days to consume the samples, and were encouraged to abstain from cannabis use for 48 hours prior to consumption in order to normalize baseline sensitivity to cannabis’ subjective effects.The research measured subjective appeal via two domains: raw enjoyment and mood, ranking both on scales from one to seven, equating to a total of 14 possible points.As the report title reads, data showed aroma or smell – not THC percentage – was the differentiating factor when determining “quality” of cannabis flower.“The strongest contribution to subject appeal that we observed was pleasant subjective aroma. That is, cannabis flowers with the most appealing aromas were the most likely to have the greatest subjective appeal,” the report reads.“Pleasant subject aroma (but not terpene expression, THC potency, or THC dose) was positively correlated with pleasant subjective effects,” the report reads. “… These results suggest…

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