Terpinolene: seven strains from the list, two studies, none on humans

What is terpinolene and where does it occur outside of hemp?

Terpinolene is a monoterpene with the formula C10H16 and a molecular weight of 136.23 g/mol, described in the PubChem database under CID number 11463. Outside of hemp, chemical databases note its presence in citrus oils, tea tree oil, common pine, and English herb, while parsnip oil is considered a rich source.

The systematic name is 1-methyl-4-(propan-2-ylidene)cyclohexene, and chemically the compound belongs to p-mentadienes with double bonds at positions 1 and 4(8). The ChEBI entry attached to the PubChem record assigns it roles as a component of volatile oils, a calming agent, an insect repellent, and a plant metabolite. This list describes the chemical roles assigned to the substance in the database and is not a summary of actions confirmed in patients.

The list of sources in the same record breaks down occurrences to specific plants. The Hazardous Substances Data Bank lists citrus oils from navel oranges, bergamot, mandarins, and tangerines, common pine oil, oils from Melaleuca tea trees, as well as turpentines from pine resin. The Toxin and Toxin Target Database adds species from the genera Citrus, Mentha, Juniperus, and Myristica, indicating parsnip oil as a rich source. The LOTUS database notes the compound in Chinese tea. The expert committee on food additives describes the pure substance as a colorless or pale straw-colored oily liquid with a sweet, pine scent.

How long does it take for terpinolene to enter the body and how long does it stay?

It is unknown. No one has published measurements of blood concentration for terpinolene after vaporizing dried flower, so the time to onset and duration remain unmeasured for this compound. However, it is known how the route of administration behaves as such, and this is described below along with the only number that can be provided from a source.

The route of administration determines the course more than the variety itself. After vaporization, the substance passes from the lungs to the blood almost immediately, so the first sensations appear after a few minutes, the intensity increases for another ten to thirty minutes, and the whole effect lasts for two to four hours. After ingestion, the raw material first passes through the intestine and liver, so the first sensations are awaited from half an hour to two hours, and the episode can last six, sometimes eight hours. Hence the most common mistake with oral administration: anyone who thinks nothing is happening after thirty minutes and takes another dose will receive both doses at once. The above ranges describe the route of administration, not this variety; pharmacokinetic studies for a single cultivar have not been published.

This single number describes the boiling point of the pure compound. The PubChem record gathers three entries for CID number 11463. The Hazardous Substances Data Bank notes 187 degrees Celsius, the expert committee on food additives provides 183-185 degrees at a pressure of 760 mm Hg, and the Human Metabolome Database repeats the same range. All three were measured at pressures close to atmospheric, so they can be compared with each other. Not every terpene has such a set: for humulene, the same set has only a measurement of 99-100 degrees at a pressure of 3 mm Hg, and values from reduced pressure cannot be placed alongside atmospheric measurements.

The boiling point of a pure substance is neither the setting of the device nor a measure of how much of the compound remains in the vapors after heating the dried flower. For the second question, our data do not provide an answer at all: none of the collections on which this cluster stands measure the loss of terpene when heating the raw material. The way temperature tables are read like instruction manuals breaks down into a separate text about the evaporation of terpenes.

What have studies shown about the effects of terpinolene?

Two studies, both outside of humans. Ito and Ito described calming effects after inhalation in mice in 2013, while Okumura's team reported effects on a human leukemia cell line in culture in 2012. The evidence base for this cluster has no studies involving humans for this compound.

The first of these concerns an animal. Ito K, Ito M published it in 2013 in the Journal of Natural Medicines with identifier PMID:23339024, and the model was a rodent: a mouse receiving the compound via inhalation. Inhaled terpinolene exhibited sedative effects in mice; the effect persisted even in mice with impaired smell, indicating that the action occurred after absorption of the compound into the body through the nose, not solely through the perception of scent. Thus, the result speaks of absorption in mice, not of a drowsy patient, and cannot be transferred to humans.

The second entry does not concern any organism. Okumura N, Yoshida H, Nishimura Y, Kitagishi Y, Matsuda S published it in 2012 in Oncology Letters with identifier PMID:22740904, and the model was a test tube: the human K562 cell line. Terpinolene reduced the level of AKT1 protein and inhibited the proliferation of human K562 leukemia cells in culture; the study did not address pain, sleep, or anxiety. Human cells in a culture dish are not a human, and inhibition of divisions in a petri dish is not a therapeutic outcome.

The entire evidence base for this cluster looks similar. It contains 22 studies spread across eleven terpenes, and none included humans; two do not even concern mammals, as they describe a plant with aphids or a review of insect literature. With such material, a statement about what the strain does to a patient cannot arise.

What has not been shown about terpinolene?

The effects of terpinolene on pain, anxiety, or sleep have not been demonstrated in humans or in any animal pain model; available data only cover calming effects after inhalation in mice and effects on a leukemia cell line in a test tube. This statement carries more weight here than all the others combined, and there is no fine print disclaimer beneath it.

Let's break it down. Pain: no animal pain model has received this compound, so there is not even a starting point to ask about humans. Sleep: the study on mice speaks of calming effects, and calming a rodent in a behavioral test is not the same as a human falling asleep and is not measured with the same tools. Anxiety: neither of the two studies posed such a question, and the second explicitly excludes it.

It has also not been shown regarding things that no one loudly asks about. There is no measurement of how much of the compound enters the blood of a person vaporizing dried flower. There is no measurement of how much remains in the vapor at all. There is no study comparing two strains differing in the leading terpene with similar potency of the material. Finally, there is no work that would link the indication of this compound in the pharmacy list with any outcome in a patient, as the list describes the product, not the effect.

Separately stands the direction in which the commercial description and the evidence material diverge. The ChEBI entry assigns the compound a role as a calming agent, while store descriptions usually associate it with stimulation and the time of day. The evidence base does not resolve this contradiction in either direction, as a measurement in humans would be needed for resolution, and no one has performed such a measurement. Competitors place a general bibliography here and do not provide a single boundary for the cited result.

What adverse effects have been reported after terpinolene?

None, if asking about dried flower. Reporting an adverse effect concerns a medicinal product with a batch number, not a single component of an oil, so there is no separate statistic for this compound inhaled from dried flower. However, there is a chemical classification of the pure substance, and it speaks of something else.

Reports of adverse effects are collected for medicinal products with a batch number, not for the strain name, so the following pertains to hemp dried flower as a group of raw materials. The most frequently reported symptoms are dry mouth, red eyes, and increased heart rate. Dizziness upon rapid standing, daytime drowsiness, and temporary worsening of short-term memory are less frequently described, as well as anxiety that increases with dosage. A separate issue is medications taken concurrently, especially sedatives and those affecting coagulation: their assessment requires knowledge of the entire list of preparations, not just the description of the plant. We do not provide the frequency of these symptoms numerically, as public compilations for hemp dried flower in Poland do not separate them by individual products.

The classification of the pure substance comes from the register of the European Chemicals Agency, where the p-mentha-1,4(8)-diene entry collects 2251 reports from 44 entities. Just under three-fifths of these reports attribute an irritating effect on the skin to the substance, and over three-quarters indicate the ability to cause an allergic skin reaction. Haz-Map summarizes the matter differently: as a flavoring agent, the substance is considered safe according to the expert committee on food additives, it did not pass the maximization test as an allergen, but a positive patch test was described in a woman using a cleaning agent, and the European Consumer Safety Committee included it among recognized contact allergens in 2011. The safety data sheet adds that inhalation of the substance or contact with it can irritate the skin and eyes, and vapors can cause dizziness in enclosed spaces.

All these descriptions concern the pure compound in industrial quantities and contact with the skin, not trace amounts in vapor from dried flower. Transferring them directly to vaporization would be as much of an abuse as transferring results from mice to humans.

Which strains from Polish pharmacies have terpinolene as the leading terpene?

Seven out of eighty-five. The pharmacy list indicates this compound as the leading terpene for the strains Lilac Diesel, Ghost Train Haze, Delahaze, Frozen Lemon Mints, Lemon Skunk, Original Gangster Deluxe, and Red No 2 (Jack Haze). They correspond to thirteen of the one hundred forty-one entries that the list counts today.

The distribution is very uneven. Six out of thirteen positions belong to one strain, Lilac Diesel, supplied by three producers. Ghost Train Haze has two positions from two producers, while the remaining five have one position each from one producer. Three of these five, namely Lemon Skunk, Original Gangster Deluxe, and Red No 2 (Jack Haze), come from the same entity.

For comparison: the pharmacy list assigns caryophyllene to thirty strains, myrcene to twenty, limonene to sixteen, and nerolidol and pinene to six each. Terpinolene ranks fourth in this list with seven strains, making it clearly rarer than the top three, but not uncommon.

The leading terpene in the list is a feature of the position description, not a result of measurements taken for the patient. It comes from the ordering provided by the source and changes with supplies, as the permit for the raw material expires after five years, and positions disappear from pharmacies and reappear. The current state leads the hub of this cluster.

In how many strains does terpinolene occur at all, and not just lead?

In eighteen. Profile bases list this compound in the composition of eighteen strains from this cluster, which is in a group more than twice as large as the seven positions to which the pharmacy list assigned it as leading. These two lists measure different things. The first refers to the label, the second to the composition.

Eleven strains contain this compound in their composition, although the leading terpene is reported to be different: Balasa (Gorilla Girl), Frosted Lemon Angel, Hindu Kush, Inzane in the Membrane, Island Sweet Skunk, Jean Guy, Mac Monkey (Blue Monkey), Northern Berry, Purple Octane, Sweet Berry Kush and Ultra Jack.

The documentation for this eighteen is weak. Twelve entries describe only one source, budcare.pl, so there is no comparison for its record. The remaining six describe both sources, and in each of these six, the compositions differ. For the Balasa (Gorilla Girl) and Northern Berry strains, terpinolene is mentioned only by budcare.pl, while medweed.pl does not list it at all, so the mere presence of the compound can be disputed.

The weighted order at medweed.pl presents a different picture. For Lilac Diesel, terpinolene ranks first among the five listed ingredients, for Island Sweet Skunk it ranks third among five, and for the Frozen Lemon Mints and Original Gangster Deluxe strains, the source lists only one ingredient, which is this compound. It is mentioned at all in four out of sixty-five described entries.

Why don't we provide the amount of terpinolene in the strain?

Because the denominator is unknown. The profile source provides the shares of individual ingredients in percentages, but the sum of these shares for one entry almost never adds up to one hundred, so the number next to the ingredient name would appear to be a measurement of the whole, which it is not. We calculated this separately for this compound.

The calculation is simple and yields a clear result. In the budcare.pl collection, this compound is mentioned in 31 out of 146 recorded entries. The sum of declared shares ranges between 50 and 100, taking on eighteen different values, with a median of 77. In 29 out of 31 entries, the sum does not reach one hundred, and none exceed it.

The result means exactly this: the source record describes part of the profile, not its entirety. In the median entry, nearly one-fourth of the composition has no assigned name at all. Providing a number next to the ingredient name would require knowledge of what this number is calculated against, and neither the reader nor we have that knowledge.

The second source does not help, as it does not provide shares at all: medweed.pl records only the weighted order of ingredients. Thus, the comparison of both sources provides either an order or a fraction of an order, never a complete composition. Therefore, we present the composition as is, without numbers next to the names, and this is a limitation of the data, not editorial caution.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does terpinolene have a sedative effect?

It is unknown. The only animal study describes a calming effect in mice after inhalation, and calming a rodent in a behavioral test is not the same as sleep in humans. No studies involving humans for this compound have been published.

Is it terpinolene that makes the strain described as daytime?

Nothing confirms this. Commercial descriptions link this compound to stimulation, while the ChEBI card in the PubChem record assigns it the role of a calming agent. The evidence does not resolve this contradiction, as there is a lack of measurement in humans.

At what temperature does terpinolene boil?

Records collected in the PubChem database indicate 187 degrees Celsius and a range of 183-185 degrees at a pressure of 760 mm Hg. This is the boiling point of the pure compound, not the setting of the vaporizer or a measure of how much substance remains in the vapor.

How many strains from Polish pharmacies have terpinolene as the leading component?

Seven out of eighty-five, which is thirteen out of one hundred forty-one entries in the list. It is present in eighteen strains, as presence in the profile and indication on the label are two different things.

Why don’t you provide the amount of terpinolene in the strain?

Because the total shares reported by the source do not add up to a whole. Among 31 entries on budcare.pl with this compound, the median total is 77, the lowest value is 50, and none exceed a hundred, so the denominator remains unknown.

Can terpinolene cause allergies?

The register of the European Chemicals Agency classifies the pure substance as irritating to the skin and potentially capable of causing an allergic reaction. However, this description pertains to the pure compound in contact with the skin, not trace amounts in the vapor from dried flower.

Dried flower is a pharmaceutical raw material dispensed by prescription in the Rpw category. The material is for informational purposes and does not replace the advice of a doctor or pharmacist. The strains described above are dispensed by the pharmacy on prescription and should not be confused with hemp dried flower sold as a food product. The editorial text was prepared by redakcja ubucha.pl.