I just thought this might get an interesting discussion going… I have tried and tried to believe in entourage effect. It seems to connect dots that otherwise haven’t been connected and it feels good to believe in it. But I have experienced no reason to believe it’s real. Hell, I don’t even experience it as a placebo effect. So allow me to explain…
I understand entourage effect to involve the synergy of all the various cannabinoids as well as the terpenoids contained in a given sample of cannabis. I guess I should say that I’m talking about the terpene inclusion of the effect. I can’t say one way or the other about synergies between the cannabinoids. But regarding terpenes, it just doesn’t seem to add up to me. I’ve had lemon-tasting bud that made me fall asleep and I’ve had myrcene-tasting bud that kept me awake when I was tired. I’ve had flavorless buds that seemed to have the same effects of phenotypic cousins that had all of the flavors. I’ve had concentrates made from flavored flowers that get all of the flavors stripped out, and the effect is very similar to the source flowers. I’ve also had distillates that have had terpenoids added back to the product and I never feel like that adds dimension to the distillate high…
So I just don’t get it. Maybe others can change my mind. But it seems to me that it’s a hypothesis that doesn’t deserve to be pushed as much as it is. Am I alone in thinking any of this?
I’d be much more inclined to believe that cannabinoid ratios are creating certain synergies that cause the effects we look for. Something along the lines of, like 50/50 THC/CBD ratios creating that relaxing but not couchlocked feeling… inclusions of CBN having something to do with couch lock… CBG causing visual distortions… yet-unknown ratios of various cannabinoids causing the introspective, spiritual effects…
…I just don’t think terps are factoring in as much as we are told they are.
In support of the cannabinoids observation:
I found that while my mental experience of Headband was quite unpleasant, if I preceeded it with a single toke of high CBD it was converted to a much more enjoyable high.
Well, I suppose it’s all anecdotal isnt it? To that end, I have had some cannabis derived terpenes a few times. I could take a dab of rosin and it would effect me one way. Wait about 20 minutes and hit just the terpenes. Indeed another 20 minutes later and I would notice a different, subtle, head change.
I think you could order terpene isolates online & dose yourself using a single base weed & confirm/deny.
Limonene strains stimulate & work on nerve pain, myrcene for sleepy-time, etc.
It’s suuuuuuper complicated in terms of variables; for a given batch of weed, it will affect people differently, based on genetics/endocannibinoid “tone” (ethan russo).
Personal experience with others also seems to indicate that users who are ailing/suffering, the different strains medical or symptom-relieving effect are obvious, but much less obvious to the non-ailing/asymptomatic healthy stoner.
So there’s a smorgasbord of canbinoids & other compounds plus human variability making for one hell of a research project. (I’m in )
Perfect example; I went through a 1g (98%thc CO2-extracted) pen in about 5 hours, got very stoned but never got the muscle/nerve relaxation that I need for the bathroom.
It is not just about terpenes, it is using the whole plant instead of isolates.
If you think of terms instead of liking it, think of cannabis that you hate the smell and taste, do you want to smoke it? Might be a great buzz, but you are not going to want to smoke it due to taste and smell.
i would have to say in my experience that I believe in/ have felt/seen the entourage effect happen.
The first example would be a bag seed I got from some commercial norcal weed that was supposed to be durban poison. I grew the seed out for a couple years and it would self itself every year keeping the same structure smell and flavor. The year my father sustained a brain injury from a car crash and would suffer from sleepwalking, loss of consciousness/ awareness of who/where he was, and severe nerve pain and the only thing that would help was that strain presumably an early durban poison cut. The plant would always have a complex smell- a combination of black licorice, lysol/pinsol, and a creamy lemon lime milky flavor ( if you drank soylent vanilla you kind of know this part of the flavor). In kief the black licorice and berry cotton candy smells/flavors came out. In BHO the lemon/lime lysol/pinesol came out really strong.
That same strain would also ease the symptoms one of my friends would suffer from ptsd and pcsd/ brain damage from an ied. And in myself I would describe it as a smokable anti-psychotic that would cure my anxiety. I don’t know if it was the cannabinoids or the terpenes/flavinoids/esters or what but it seemed to help.
Now a lsd og clone i grew during thesame time period would always yield around 10% more in bho from the same amount of weed so I can infer it had a higher ratio of cannibinoids per gram but it never got anyone quite as high as the suspected durban poison.
And i guess the last example i have for now is that for me, weed with certain types of smells get me less high than others or only get me a specific type of high. Ie doughy sweet cookie or desert flavors either dont get me that high or only give me a body high. While woodsy and sour notes have always added a mental effect- not always energetic but either mental clarity or increased focus/creativity. And i can usually count on gassy strains to improve my mood.
but yeah this is all in my opinion/experience idk i hope it helps
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