Hey happy start everybody! 
Wondering what y’all’s common YEILDS are for 100% CANNABIS derived terpenes ? From top colas and just buds?
If you’ve ever ran shake and larfy stuff like to know that also. IF you know.
I understand all cultivars are different, many factors. I’d like to know if your willing to share the info. 
What’s the yeilds for pure CDT?
I’m asking about CANNABIS plants. Not replicas. 
And thank you for the response
You first
Show us some pics too so we know what a good workspace should look like.
.005% off indoor trim not correctly stored. When i saw trim im meaning dank sugar leaf from hand trimmed bud.
Edit .5% not .005%
Typical yields are between 1.5% and 3%, assuming you start with good material and get all the water out of your terpene extract.
You will likely be much closer to 1.5% than 3%.
Thank you for your response. 
3% sounds incredibly high yeild of pure CDT from plant material.
I’ve heard of some buds testing above 3-4% terp content…living soil stuff…but even 1.5% YEILDS seems really high from what I’ve heard. May I ask how you know this to be true?
Are you speaking from experience or hear say?
*I hope Im not coming off rude…I’m genuinely asking. A few I’ve talked to in the past said 1% would be very high. (I’ve never extracted terpenes personally, way above my expertise, I just buy them from others.)
I do know some ppl are very good at it…use different methods than most…just shocked if it’s possible to pull 3% from flowers and them be pure.
May I ask how you came to know that?
That’s similar to the numbers I’ve been told in the past. I’ve asked a few super advanced nerds I know…waiting on response
But I remember more like what you were saying. 1/2 of 1%
And as you said from dank frosted terpy sugar leaf maybe a tiny bit higher from buds. Still less than 1% though.
Thank you for your input 
For live fresh frozen you can be talking 4-7%. Im sure as you already know the longer you wait to process to lless terps your going to get. I think gauge low .5%-1% and if you get more then your happy.
4-7% terp content for live plants your saying? Not yeild right?
Like for example…soon as SWIM chops em down just immediately bag and freeze it.
Then process them…your saying can pull 4-7% yeild? Or saying 0.5-1% yeild?
Im trying to remember but a buddy told me 4 grams off 448 grams would be considered “really high” yeild.
I’m trying to gather up much info as I can. I know a bit but not everything that’s for sure.
correct
@Realterpsmatter I appreciate the question.
This (admittedly wide) range of 1.5% to 3% was obtained empiracally. I have been extracting things from plants for 30 years. I consider 3% to be super high, but I have seen it a few times with my own eyes so I consider it to be within range; I commonly observe 1.5% to 1.75% yield, and I consider anything above 2% to be a great day.
Starting material matters (you already know that).
Complete extraction of terpenes, from any biomatrix (e.g, “whole” flower, trichomes/hash, live resin, etc.), is technically challenging. Different terpene types exibit a notable diversity of physiochemical properties, which makes it difficult to get them all out of the biomatrix without some degredation. Trapping 100% of all terpenes removed from a biomatrix is also quite difficult. These bona fide technical challenges are likely part of the reason many folks report cannabis terpene yields in the range of 0.75% to 1.5%.
Because it is worth repeating: Starting material matters.
So cool man. So very cool. 
I really appreciate the insight and wisdom.
I’ve been reading all kinds of info and this is one of the best explanations I’ve come across yet. Simple and clear. Especially from someone that actually does the work and not a peanut gallery man.
Must be really fun and interesting to be an extraction nerd. Thanks again. 
Hey @Realterpsmatter, I’ve been doing a TON of terpene extraction with CO2 lately using mainly sweet leaf and some popcorn nugs and from what I’ve seen you’re usually getting that range of .3%-1.5% yield return on terpenes after filtration of waxes/fats and removal of any water. I’ve seen stuff yield as low as .1% return but this is usually biomass that has been bred to contain high levels of thc which leaves very little room for terpenes on the plant itself I believe. From what i’ve worked with reintroducing back into distillate to blend for vape carts is around a 10% cut to get a good flavor without going too overboard. We’ve been talking about running some fresh frozen stuff just to see what the yield and difference is in quality, if it ever happens i’ll be sure to share the findings with the community!
CO2 extraction is best for terps in my opinion. With flower testing 3% terpenes, you can get a 3% terpene yield in extraction. Your terpene fractions will not be 100% pure but with CO2 you can fractionate and keep lipids out, pic below. You get best quality terps with the best yield possible and it only takes 30-45 minutes for a terp extraction. I have a colleague who swears distilled terps are superior but they are always somewhat degraded, you lose yield and it takes much longer (from flower to crude to distillate).
This is true to a degree in CO2 extraction as you may lose some of your heavier terpenes to the lipid fraction if parameters are not selective enough. Or lose the light terpenes to the separator.
After 30 years of experience, what do you think is the best method for extracting and preserving terpenes from plant matrices?
Hey thanks for your input. I’m trying to absorb all the info I can regarding terps.
I’m not sure about that… saying cannabis that contain high THC levels has less room for terps.
Me personally I def still have my “noob” hat on. So much more for me to learn. So I may be wrong but…
I’ve heard of some plants having both high THC and high terp content…but as most of us know (I know you do) thc isn’t the end all to be all regarding potency.
I’ve had some diesel cuts that were in the 15% thc range but super loud terpy and way way more potent than the 25-30% THC range.
Terps from cannabis make cannabinoids more bioavailable. (I know you know, just saying for others who may come across the Convo)
Anyways, I hope you do share that info 
*Side note regarding raw distillate I usually go about 6%-8% terpene content. 10% I’ve found starts to hit that “too much”…BUT all cultivars are different. I’ve had some that are subtle and can go 10% in distillate…but some that 7% is perfect sweet spot. So many variables. (I use mostly live CDT but some cured ones as well)
I really like learning and talking about all this stuff. Thank you again. Looking forward to hearing about your fresh frozen adventures.
Just got a few new ones in.
10% usually for S.H.O. and others like thca diamonds. Been tinkering around w/ vape viscosity for a while now.
thank you for sharing all this valuable info!
Reminds me of this article I was reading the other day. Starting where it underlines.
I got an answer from one of the best and coolest nerds I know of…(y’all are pretty cool too though) They say 2% - 4% yeild. Usually 2%. Some of the best quality I’ve ever had. 99% pure. Prob 99.99%
Said takes about 2oz of buds to make 1 Gram CDT. Varies though.
*Btw yours look very niiice. We need smell a vision. And again thank you for the valuable info.
I’m very interested in your response…I’m sure many others are as well. @TheTomatoGuy
I have some ideas regarding preserving but I’m no expert. Rather hear what y’all have to say first. *I know tpurp wasn’t asking me. Just chiming in trying to keep the post going.
“After 30 years of experience, what do you think is the best method for extracting and preserving terpenes from plant matrices?“
Re extracting: There is no single correct answer here, mostly because the correct answer is highly situational. We all have different priorities, needs, skill sets, resources (money, time, equipment, people), etc. Moreover, because terpene extraction/purification is technically challenging, in-house optimization will be required for any approach/SOP you choose to thoroughly consider. (To be clear, I am not suggesting you start optimizing an approach/SOP before you have mastered that approach/SOP.) Batch-to-batch optimization will also be required, mostly due to the extensive variability across starting materials.
Re preserving: Well-sealed, brown/amber glass container. Dry. Argon. -20C. In the dark.
this is accurate
This answer can varely incredibly broadly people are mentioning their HTE(while it stands for high terpene there are plenty other flavored molecules besides terpenes within) yields in this thread. CO2 is aggressive and even at room temp 700 psi will pull more than terps.
@Realterpsmatter alot of tests are altered/BS so careful basing data off that unless you are personally sending it to several labs or your lab is doing what psi labs and a select few others do and test the same sample 3 times for an average.
Purity is another determining factor. PURE CDT’s appear water like and yield sub 1%( i couldnt accurately tell you as i retrieve them from a cold finger/trap thru post processing) But i feel more than incredibly confident that its sub 1% as it takes me thousands of grams being processed tog et so. than again who im not trying to reclaim them all just recondense what becomes volatile enough to travel as a gas.
Different extraction methods have different polarities and can also be another contributing factor to your yields.
