To understand the differences between terpene mixes, you have to stop thinking in absolutes. There is no 100% purity, only cutoffs in our ability to measure the impurities.
The difference between the same terpene extracted from two species is minor fractionals. 99.9999% purity means that .0001% is something else and why the identical d-
Limonene molecule from Oranges, Lemons, and Limes still have different flavors.
Besides natural
terpenes, there are
terpenes derived by processing other more readily available
terpenes, such as the high demand for b-
Myrcene relative to supply, so most b-Mercene is derived from readily available a/b-Pinene from the lumber industry.
I did a study of the thirty most prevalent mono and sesquiterpenes in cannabis, which co-author Rob Brown published an article under the title Sweet Mary's Charms, which is long with tables chock full o data, but here is the summary:
Sooo, to summarize the toxicity of the 31 terpenes and terpenoids above, the poison is always in the dosage, and none show toxicity at the levels encountered vaporizing, but there are concerns with d-Limonene being a teratogen, b-Myrcene being a carcinogen, and Camphor being a mutagenic and inducing epileptic seizures.
b-Myrcene also has Fema GRAS status, confusing things somewhat, but is also a major component of beer and if it were a serious carcinogen, you would ostensibly expect to see increased levels of kidney and liver cancers amongst beer drinkers.
It does however bring us to the observation that more than 200 volatile compounds are found in cannabis, and we just looked at 30 major ones, how about the other 169 or so?
To answer that in part, check up the next article in our series, The Oxford Academic Botanical Journal Follow up, which addresses 68 of the volatile compounds found in the Northern Lights and Hawaiian Indica male and female plants that they tested, not just the most common ones.
In closing, note the colors of the different terpenes and terpenoids above, and the only one that isn't clear, white, or pale yellow is C20H40-O Phytol, a diterpenoid, which can be yellow to red. Some of the C15 flavonoids are also red, and we will be discussing them later.
