Terpenes on a Michigan label: what the percentages mean, and what they don't

Terpenes are the aroma compounds that make one jar smell like citrus peel and another like pepper or pine. Cannabis makes dozens of them. The ones you'll see most often on Michigan lab reports include myrcene, limonene, beta-caryophyllene, linalool and alpha-pinene, usually listed as a percentage or in milligrams per gram.

That number is a measurement. It tells you how much of each compound a licensed lab found in the sample it tested. It doesn't tell you how a product will make you feel, and it can drift as flower ages, dries out or sits in a warm car, because many terpenes are volatile.

This section separates the chemistry from the copy. When a strain page says limonene is uplifting or myrcene causes couch-lock, we look at what research has actually shown, how strong that evidence is, and where it's mostly folklore with a lab number attached.

Coming up: the mistakes people make when they shop by terpene, and a plain starting point for anyone who wants to read a terpene profile without a chemistry degree.