What pinene is

Alpha-pinene is the most widely encountered terpenoid in nature.

Strains listing it

224

Average listed THC

21.1%

Aroma

Pine and resin

Also found in

conifers, pine and spruce resin

Alpha-pinene is the most widely encountered terpenoid in nature, found in conifers and many plant essential oils; pinene is traditionally obtained from pine and spruce resin. Cannabis carries both forms, alpha and beta.

Its popular reputation is for counteracting THC's effect on short-term memory. That comes from a laboratory finding that alpha-pinene inhibits acetylcholinesterase, an enzyme involved in memory, and a 2011 review in the British Journal of Pharmacology raised it only as a possibility. It has not been shown in people.

Pinene in our catalogue

224 published strains list pinene: 105 indica (47%), 82 hybrid (37%) and 37 sativa (17%), averaging 21.1% listed THC. The flavour notes they carry most often are earthy, pine, woody, herbal and sweet.

Counts are computed from our published strain catalogue at page load. Terpene listings describe a cultivar’s reported profile rather than an assay of any particular batch. The idea that terpene content shapes the felt effects of cannabis, the “entourage effect”, remains unproven in people, and nothing here should be read as a medical claim. For adults 19+.

Sources: Russo (2011), Taming THC, British Journal of Pharmacology; Surendran et al. (2021), Myrcene, Frontiers in Nutrition; Terpenes/terpenoids in cannabis: are they important? (review, PMC).