Terpenes:
Leading science has indicated that terpenes not only effect the taste and aroma of plants such as Marijuana but they are also involved in the physical effects one feels when consuming Marijuana.
I strongly believe that the present terpenes found in Marijuana are a direct result of the rearrangement of the CBD’S, CBN’S and other such phytocannabinoids as the Marijuana resins ripen and cure making the terpenes a kind of indicator revealing what kind of effect any certain cultivar might give.
 One of the main reasons I believe this is because the terpenes we are talking about are created and exist within the trichome with the THC and the phytocannabinoids. Furthermore, as the resigns mature the terpenes change and the effects coincide.
I am even prepared to go out on a limb and say that I believe these terpenes within the trichome have more to do with the effect than they do the smell and taste.

I am fully convinced that there is a direct relation between the terpenes present in Marijuana and the effects one feels when consuming it. After a deep ten-year observational study, I have a strong theory as to how one can use this information to help them select the Marijuana cultivar that is best suited for them and to avoid unwanted effects. 

The following is a list of the most common terpenes and the basic effects leading science indicates each terpene will give:
 
*Myrcene is a terpene most commonly found in mangos. The CBD's, CBN's and other such compounds connected to Myrcene combined with the THC in Marijuana contribute to the relaxing feeling many people feel after using a majority of popular cultivar. Our research has suggested that myrcene, along with caryophyllene, are the two most commonly found terpenes in the healing and medicinal-cultivar.

 *Caryophyllene is a terpene commonly found in spices like; black pepper, cloves and cinnamon. When the CBD's, CBN's and other such compounds connected to Caryophyllene are combined with the THC in Marijuana, Caryophyllene has anti-anxiety effects. Caryophyllene is also thought to be directly involved with the endocannabinoid system as a further catalyst for all the terpenes.

*Humulene is a terpene often found in hops The CBD's, CBN's and other such compounds connected to Humulene combined with the THC in Marijuana are supposed to give a relaxing and calming effect. It is thought to have anti-inflammatory effects as well.

*Ocimene is a terpene found in mint, when the CBD's, CBN's and other such compounds connected to Ocimene are combined with the THC in Marijuana, it has its own type of relaxing effect. 

*Bisabolol: When the CBD's, CBN's and other such compounds connected to Bisabolol are combined with the THC in Marijuana, they are believed to have mood calming effects that help with relaxation and sleep.

*Linalool is a terpene most commonly found in lavender. When the CBD's, CBN's and other such compounds connected to Linalool combine with the THC in Marijuana, linalool has a very sedative relaxing effect. 

*Limonene is a terpene found in citrus fruits like grapefruit, lemons and oranges, when the CBD's, CBN's and other such compounds connected to Limonene are combined with the THC in Marijuana, Limonene is most associated with uplifting, energizing and creative effects.  

*Pinene is a terpene found in pine trees and when the CBD's, CBN's and other such compounds associated to Pinene are combined with the THC in Marijuana, they have an uplifting psychoactive effect.

*Terpinolene: when the CBD's, CBN's and other such compounds associated to Terpinolene are combined with the THC in Marijuana they have a powerful psychoactive, uplifting and creative effect.  

THC:
For years people have been relating the effects they feel from using marijuana merely to THC.
Shamans Terpene Theory states that the THC is much more like the amps in an electric circuit whereas the terpenes and the arrangement of CBD’s, CBN's and other such phytocannabinoids are what is actually giving the user the feeling and the THC is amplifying these effects as a catalyst.
This means that the same cultivar with the same terpene profile is going to give a person the same effects but if the two samples of the same cultivar are grown differently and one has more THC than the other, the sample with the most THC is going to give those same effects but amplified much stronger, making the user feel those effects more intensely.
This is also why a plant with high percentages of THC and low percentages of terpenes will most often yield little effects.

Terpene Profiles:
The terpene profile is a list of the most abundant terpenes found in a sample of any certain type of cultivar. As an example, we will use:

Myrcene
Caryophyllene
Limonene

I list the profile in this way because the order is important. In this example, Myrcene is the top tier terpene, Caryophyllene is in the second tier and Limonene is in the third tier. This means there is a greater percent of Myrcene than Caryophyllene and a lesser percent of Limonene than Caryophyllene. There are usually many more than three terpenes in each cultivar and they are usually at different percentages of one another. We are most concerned with the top three or four tiers when examining the profile, this is because the terpenes with the most percentage have the greatest effect on the user.
In essence, each cannabis cultivar has a cocktail mixture of these different terpenes at different ratios to one another. These different combinations with different ratios will all have slightly different effects on the user. 

For instance: Two profiles that have the same three terpenes in the top three tiers but in a different order can and usually do have very different effects on a person. 

Myrcene
Caryophyllene
Limonene

Limonene
Caryophyllene 
Myrcene

Although these two profiles have the same three terpenes, these two profiles will usually have the opposite effect from one another because the terpenes are ordered differently: Limonene is an uplifting psychoactive terpene and Myrcene is a relaxing terpene without much psychoactive responses. So, the profile with the Myrcene at the top will be a somewhat relaxing strain, whereas the other example with Limonene in the top tier will usually give an uplifting, energetic and creative effect; all of this depends on what other terpenes one might have previously been using, which leads us to tolerance and sensitivity. 

Sensitivity:
It is my theory that although everyone does have a different brain chemistry and some people who have ADD or are bi-polar will respond opposite of the general population, the majority of the population will generally respond to these terpenes in a similar fashion. With this said, there are many people who are much more sensitive to certain compounds than others. This can be partially due to tolerance but is also due to things like allergies and such. Some people are simply more sensitive to individual compounds and can have unusual reactions to them; especially when consumed in abundance, consumed in the wrong combination, or consumed at the incorrect time. I believe we can eliminate these unwanted effects completely by understanding which compounds are creating which effects and then growing/breeding cultivar specific to the patients needs and then teaching the patient how to properly use them.


Brain-chemistry
and the Cannabinoid Spectrum:
Rather than “everyone responds differently to marijuana”, I believe most people would have very similar reactions if they were always consuming the same exact things all the time. This means, consuming the same marijuana, the same foods and the same drugs and alcohol all the time because everything we consume is effecting our brain-chemistry and how we feel. Since everyone is consuming different types of cannabinoids throughout their day, we each exist in a different part of the spectrum and thus will have different responses when using the same cultivar. A simile would be; If two people who are traveling in the same direction for the same time and distance but begin their travels at different places, would find it impossible for them to both arrive at the same location; just like many people do when they use the same marijuana...




A good way to picture the Cannabinoid Spectrum is as a needle on a gauge, similar to your speedometer, with the left side of the gauge being the super slow sedative indica types and the right side of the gauge representing the super uplifting and psychedelic sativa types. Your head space is currently floating like a needle somewhere within that gauge; When you use cannabis it shifts the needle one direction or the other, the longer you stay in that position on the gauge the greater your tolerance will become for those certain terpenes.

Tolerance:
I believe tolerance to be one of the most important factors when trying to understand phytocannabinoids, terpenes and the effect they have on each of us individually.
It is fairly common knowledge that we have these endocannabinoid receptors and like any receptor it starts empty and gradually fills up, once full a tolerance is created. These receptors work with the CBD's, CBN's and other such compounds that we are discussing in the same way they work with the THC. The user gains a tolerance to each of these compounds individually thus we all have a different type of tolerance on any given day depending on what type of cannabinoids we have been using. Naturally, we are all more sensitive to the compounds we are not using on a regular basis. This means that someone on the left side of the spectrum is more sensitive to the uplifting/psychedelic cultivar and people on the right side of the spectrum are more sensitive to the relaxing and sedative type of cultivar.

For example:
Lets take two individuals who don’t use any drugs, tobacco or alcohol; they only use marijuana. 

User #1 likes to use super uplifting type of cannabis that have Limonene or Terpinolene in the top two tiers all day such as the second example we gave above:

Limonene
Caryophyllene 
Myrcene

At bed time, user #1 will switch to the first example we gave above as it helps them relax:

Myrcene
Caryophyllene
Limonene

User #2 likes to use the first example we gave above during the day as it gives them a small bit of energy:

Myrcene
Caryophyllene
Limonene

And then at night, user #2 switches to a different type we have not mentioned:

Myrcene
Caryophyllene
Linalool 

Both users use the first example we gave but during different times of the day and for different effects. Example one helps user #1 relax and gives user #2 a bit of energy. We think this has more to do with tolerance than these two people having these greatly different responses to the same terpenes, and we explain how bellow. 

Because user #1 is consuming the second example all day with the Limonene in the top tier, they are loading their receptors with mostly Limonene. So, when they move the Limonene to the third tier at night and replace the top tier with the Myrcene, they are filling their receptors with a more relaxing terpene. Furthermore, because the receptors grew a tolerance to the Limonene used during the day, reducing these Limonene levels makes the user not feel the effects from the Limonene as much. 
On the same token; User #2 very rarely uses any canabis with limonene in the top two tiers, but rather, is always consuming cultivar with Myrcene and Caryophyllene in the top two tiers, thus gaining a slight tolerance to them. So, when they use the cultivar with the Limonene in the third tier, they feel the slight energetic effect it has. Then when they remove the limonene completely and replace it with the Linalool they feel the strong sedative effects Linalool has when combined with Myrcene and Caryophyllene. Then to contrast the Linalool, the next day user #2 uses the cultivar with the Limonene again and feels the energy from it verse the sedation of the Linalool. 

Our theory is that if these two users were to use the same two types of cannabis at the same time for a week and build the same kind of tolerance in their receptors, they would gradually both start to feel the same way from both types of cultivar.

It might be though that user #2 is slightly more sensitive to Limonene than user #1, which is why they don’t often consume cannabis with Limonene in the top two tiers and why they can still feel its effects when it is in the third tier. On the same token, User #1 could be sensitive to Mercene making a little go a long way.

The point is that these two users are experiencing the same effects from the individual terpenes in respect to their individual tolerance from the terpenes they are consuming on a regular basis. They are both using the Limonene for energy and they are both lowering the Limonene to relax. It is just happening with different cultivar that have different levels of Limonene. 

We have heard other accounts of people having “strange” uplifting psychoactive reactions to some of the common indica cultivar with the following profile:

Myrcene
Pinene
Caryophyllene 

In each account the users really liked Indica profiles with Pinene in the third tier such as:

Myrcene
Caryophyllene
Pinene

And in each case they were using the (M,P,C ) at night to try and relax hoping it would help them relax like the (M,C,P) does, and in both cases used the (M,P,C) after using day time strains similar to the one mentioned above with Limonene in the top tier. 

Our theory is that after filling their receptors with uplifting psychoactive Limonene all day, they were needing to lower the psychoactive terpene and replace it with the relaxing Myrcene and Caryophyllene, but instead they got bombarded with high amounts of Pinene which is a different type of uplifting psychoactive and thus basically had a natural reaction to too much Limonene and Pinene mixed in their daily diet when they really needed to switch to the relaxing terpenes.
 
People who find themselves sensitive to certain terpenes should be very careful with cannabis that has these terpenes in the top two tiers. Once a terpene is in the 2nd tier the effects it has can be much different than when it is in the third tier. This is where the actual percentage value of the terpene in the profile you are using would be very helpful in determining the effects and comparing different cultivar. 

The terpenes and their effects all change as the marijuana ripens, dries and cures. So, it is very likely that someone who uses a batch that was harvested early or not dried and cured correctly will find unusual or strange results and effects from any type of cannabis. This is why it is best for medical patients to have a good caregiver who is growing medicine for their symptoms and not just to make money, this is also why some marijuana found in dispensary’s cannot be relied upon. 

Simply put; marijuana that is properly cared for will properly care for us.