Cannabis, a small glossary

Cannabis as a consumer category is in roughly the same place wine was in the 1970s — full of terms that look like they mean something specific but don't, and a small set of terms that actually do most of the work. This is the small set.

Cannabinoids

The molecules that make cannabis do what it does. THC (delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol) is the psychoactive one. CBD (cannabidiol) is non-psychoactive and tends to soften THC's edge. There are over a hundred minor cannabinoids — CBG, CBN, CBC, THCV — most present in trace amounts. CBN gets a lot of attention as a sleep cannabinoid, but the actual evidence for that is thin; what people are usually feeling from a "high-CBN" product is the synergy with THC and terpenes, not CBN doing the work alone.

Terpenes

Aromatic compounds shared with hops, lavender, citrus rind, and pine forests. Cannabis has dozens. The ones that show up on product labels:

• Myrcene · earthy, herbal, mango-adjacent. Most common in cannabis. Sedating.
• Limonene · citrus rind. Mood-lifting.
• Caryophyllene · black pepper, cloves. The one terpene that also acts as a cannabinoid (binds CB2 receptors).
• Pinene · pine forest. May counteract some THC short-term-memory loss.
• Linalool · lavender. Calming.
• Humulene · earthy, hop-like. The one shared most directly with brewing.

The terpene profile of a strain is the most useful thing on the label. Two strains with the same THC % can feel very different depending on which terpenes dominate. For consumers, terpene % matters more than THC % once you're past the threshold of getting high at all.

The entourage effect

The hypothesis — and at this point it's better-supported than most cannabis claims — that cannabis works as a system. The cannabinoids and terpenes modulate each other; the whole-plant experience is qualitatively different from purified THC. Why full-spectrum products tend to feel more rounded than isolates, and why a 25% THC flower with a thin terpene profile can feel less interesting than a 17% flower with a rich one.

Sativa, indica, hybrid

These categories are mostly fiction at the consumer level. The botanical distinction was never about effects — it was about plant morphology (broad-leaf vs. narrow-leaf) and origin regions. After fifty years of crossbreeding, almost nothing on the legal market is a pure sativa or pure indica. The "sativa = energetic, indica = couch-lock" rule of thumb is better thought of as terpene shorthand: the strains commonly labeled sativa happen to be myrcene-low and limonene-high; the couch-lock strains are myrcene-dominant. Read the terpenes, ignore the category.

Hemp

In the U.S., hemp is legally cannabis with under 0.3% delta-9 THC by dry weight. Same plant, different label, different legal treatment. Most CBD products on shelves at non-dispensary retailers are hemp-derived. The 2018 Farm Bill opened the door for a lot of products that exist in a regulatory gray zone between hemp and recreational cannabis — delta-8, THCa flower, hemp-derived delta-9 edibles. Reasonable people disagree about whether that gray zone is good for the consumer.

For El Segundo, the practical thing: read terpene profiles, not strain names. Look for products that publish a full panel. Trust your own response over the label.