Professor Herb Hemp Briquette Hash 3.5g, Tangerine Dream

Terpene infused, but infused with what

The ingredients on this range read: hemp biomass, terpenes and flavourings. That is the whole declaration. It does not say which terpenes, it does not say how many, and it does not say where they came from, and neither does the brand's website or any shop selling it.

There are two broad answers a maker could give. Cannabis-derived terpenes are extracted from the plant itself, usually captured during extraction. Botanical terpenes are the same named compounds taken from other plants entirely, and the industry uses them widely because they are abundant, consistent from batch to batch and straightforward to blend to a target profile.

Limonene, the compound behind essentially every citrus aroma in this trade, is the clearest example. It is present in cannabis, but it is present in far greater quantity in the peel of oranges, lemons and limes, which is where the overwhelming majority of it comes from commercially.

We do not know which Professor Herb use. The label does not say, we have not asked them, and there is no way to tell by looking at the pack or smelling it. What we can do is explain why the question is worth asking, because the usual answer given about it is not quite right.

The two limonenes, and why only one smells of tangerine

The standard line is that a terpene is a terpene: limonene from an orange and limonene from cannabis are the same molecule, so it makes no difference. That is nearly true and the exception is the interesting part.

Limonene exists in two forms that are mirror images of one another. Same atoms, same formula, arranged the opposite way round in three dimensions, in the way your left and right hands are the same shape reflected. Chemists call these enantiomers, and noses can tell them apart.

D-limonene is the form that dominates in citrus peel, and it is the one responsible for the bright, sweet orange and tangerine smell everybody recognises. L-limonene is the form cannabis predominantly produces, reported by terpene suppliers at well over ninety per cent of the limonene in the plant, and it smells noticeably different: more piney, closer to turpentine, without the fruit-bowl brightness.

Which produces a conclusion most buyers would not guess. On a product called Tangerine Dream, a botanical terpene taken from citrus peel is the one that would actually smell of tangerine. A cannabis-derived limonene would smell less like the fruit the flavour is named after, not more.

So if this profile does taste convincingly of tangerine, and it does, that tells you something about where the aroma probably came from. It is inference rather than information, and we would rather label it that way than dress it up, but it is a more useful thought than the assumption that cannabis-derived must mean better.

Terpenes and flavourings are two separate things

One more detail in that ingredient line that nobody remarks on. It reads terpenes and flavourings, naming two components rather than one. Terpenes are specific aroma compounds. Flavourings are a separate category and a much broader one.

That tells you the aroma on these packs is a constructed blend rather than a single plant extract poured onto hemp. It also explains why several of the profiles in this range land closer to confectionery than to anything botanical: a flavouring can go somewhere a terpene alone cannot, which is why Bubba Gum OG tastes of bubblegum rather than of a plant.

This flavour sits at the more plausible end of that spectrum, because citrus is a place terpenes can genuinely go on their own. That the ribbon names a cannabis variety while the ingredients name added aroma compounds is a separate point, and one we have taken on properly on our Bubba Gum OG page rather than repeating here.

What Tangerine Dream is actually like

It is the cleanest citrus in the range and the most straightforwardly pleasant. The tangerine reads as peel rather than juice, with the slight bitterness and oiliness that comes with zest, and there is a soft sweetness behind it that keeps it from being sharp.

Set against the other fruit flavours we carry it sits in the middle. Pineapple Express is more acidic and more aggressive. Guava Dog is muskier and stranger. Forbidden Fruit is darker and jammier. This one is the most familiar of the four and the easiest to like on a first try.

The pressed hemp underneath comes through as it does in all of them, and citrus handles that better than most profiles because zest and green resin are neighbours rather than opposites. The aroma out of the pot is bright and carries a long way.

The manufacturer's own description of it runs to four words, which makes it the shortest blurb of the ones we have checked in this range. Ours does not.

The rest of the specification

A 3.5g heat-pressed briquette of Italian hemp material with terpenes and flavourings added, stating 175mg per pack, manufactured in the UK and EU, analysed by Adact Medical with a QR code on the card linking to the result. No nicotine and no tobacco.

We have covered the parts of that worth unpacking elsewhere in this range rather than repeating them. What the material itself is likely to be, given the stated figure, is on our Forbidden Fruit page. Who the laboratory are and which cannabinoids their panel covers is on our Guava Dog page. What happens to an infused aroma over time, which matters more for a citrus profile than most because the lighter compounds go first, is on our Gelato page. How to break a pressed block up so it is usable at all is on our main briquette page.

This range is on our site on an explicit decision by the owner of this business. Smokable hemp sits outside the industrial hemp cultivation licence, which covers stalk and seed, and we would rather state that than leave it out.

Who should choose a different one

If you dislike citrus, there is nowhere to hide in this flavour. It is the most single-minded profile in the range.

If you want something sweet and dessert-like, Wedding Cake, Gelato and Moonrock Cookies are all better suited, and Bubba Gum OG is sweeter still.

If you were hoping the terpenes are cannabis-derived and that matters to you, we cannot confirm it either way, and the chemistry above suggests a citrus source would smell more like the name than a cannabis one would. Buy it for the smell rather than for an assumption about its provenance.

If you want something ready to use out of the container, a briquette is a solid block and needs breaking down first. The loose Premium Hemp Blend is the same material without that step.

Over-18s only. This is not a food and it is not a medicine, and nothing here should be read as suggesting otherwise.