I think you’re smelling terpenes.
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Do you mean the terpenes burning off from the shatter itself?
Terpenes are very volatile if you heat your shatter up the terpenes will get the fuck outa there and end up in the air around u that’s why you can smell it more when it’s hot.
What exactly is your problem?
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Thc has zero smell. This is what I’m getting at. Your smelling/ tasting the terpenes.
I think more reading/searching is in order to “level up”.
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It sounds like you’re not happy that your shatter carts taste like shatter
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I’ve made posts about this here before but as far as terpene diluents go there really is not some huge secret tech behind it. They have become commonplace over the last 2-3 years so there’s no reason to act like it’s some big secret. Anyone could very easily recreate the same effect using inexpensive isolates if they wanted to. The truth is all terpene diluents invariably will be composed almost entirely of the less volatile terpenes like terpene alcohols/terpenoids because they have a less prominent flavor.
Common examples of terpene alcohols include Linalool, Nerolidol, fenchol, and so on and are signified by the “ol” in their name. From a clarity or consistency standpoint, they all perform basically the same, the difference is more in the molecular mass/aroma. Terpene alcohols just do a better job than monoterpenes like Limonene or Myrcene at keeping minor impurities like lipids/waxes mixed, even if added in extremely low percentages. This is why they help so much with the transparency of the oil.
If you were not concerned about the flavor at all, you really could just pick any terpene alcohols that you feel most comfortable using. The heavier terpene alcohols tend to exhibit less flavor but also do not typically lower the viscosity (“thin”) much either. So although less flavorful, you sometimes need to use more to achieve virtually the same effect.
The “lighter” monoterpene alcohols exhibit a much stronger flavor but these are likely the isolates you are most familiar with as they tend to be more abundant in cannabis. You could realistically just use Linalool if you wanted something familiar but it would obviously just taste like lavender flowers if you did not use a blend of other isolates. This is where the heavier, less-volatile terpene alcohols have come in to play.
Phytol, which you mentioned, is a diterpene alcohol and is even heavier by weight (less volatile) and emits a very subtle flavor. The mild flavor and low price point in bulk has made Phytol pretty much the go-to “flavorless terpene” over the last 2-3 years for dozens of companies. You do not necessarily need to use phytol or any of the high molecular weight terpenes and personally I don’t think this is even the best “tool for the job” so to speak. I think there are much better alternatives for varying applications, that would depend on the concentrate in front of you. You’ll see more of these heavier compounds like phytol, guiaol, squalene, etc in CO2 extracted cannabis terpenes than you would in steam but they still are generally just trace compounds and should be treated as such.
If you’re already using cannabis derived terpenes, at most you could just supplement with a small percentage of sesquiterpene alcohols. These are not as heavy as the ones I mentioned above but do have a much milder flavor than things like Linalool or Nerol (monoterpenoids). I personally think Bisabolol and Nerolidol are a great fit here because they both occur somewhat abundantly in the plant and they are not so strongly flavored that a couple drops would overpower the cannabis terpenes you’re already using. As with anything, some terpene alcohols will blend better with one strain over another so you will want to do some R&D to find a composition that works best for you.
One thing I do want to say is that masking the taste of a concentrate is never a great goal to set out for. If you really just dislike the taste of your concentrate then it’s just not something you should be trying to put in a cartridge. Don’t set yourself up for failure and create a situation where you need to use caustic levels of terpenes to mask a bitter taste. If you do not have access to a concentrate suitable for making a cartridge using a clean level of additives then forego making cartridges until you have the proper materials available to you. Its best to incorporate a percentage of another cannabinoid distillate that was already refined for this purpose. Don’t try to fix what was done (or not done) in the extraction lab with a bunch of additives in your kitchen.
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The problem that I mentioned above is that the carts do not taste or smell like the terpene profiles.
This is based on more than my opinion. I gave samples to multiple people to see if it was just me and they told me that it had a strong “weedy” undertaste. When I used to grab cartridges off of someone else, I instructed them to use terpenes from @MassTerpenes and those cartridges tasted like the flavours that were advertised. Now that I’m making my own, I am not tasting or smelling the terpenes that I am adding to the decarbed shatter. I don’t mind the shatter taste however I know this is a formula that can be drastically improved on my part because I’ve seen it be done.
I want to add that I am using terpenes from somewhere else because they had a cool profile that MassTerpenes didn’t have. I don’t believe the terpenes are a problem however.
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If you heat your shatter for longer maybe you can get rid of some of those pesky weedy terps u don’t want in your carts.
Is it possible the previous carts u had, that you enjoyed, were made with distillate not shatter?
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Nah they were made with shatter I saw them being made in person.
Heating it for longer could be it as well. I stood over it for around an hour until it got to the point where the small bubbles were barely there and then I removed it from heat and added the terpenes. The first time I heated for longer I ended up with 50% of the shatter I had originally inputted 
You shouldn’t lose 50% mass during the decarb process.
Edit: if you added ur terps right after the decarb process it’s totally possible u mixed them too hot degrading them etc
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Well this is obvious lol.
I know this happened because I had the heat all the way up for a long period of time in a beaker that was likely too large for a 1 gram sample and didn’t cover over it thus letting a lot evaporate.
That’s a good theory! When would be a good time to introduce the terps then? From everything I read they say to do it immediately while it’s still a nice liquid form
How hot was the hot plate?
If you managed to actually evaporate 50% of the weight of the concentrate OUT of its vessel i would imagine the rest of the mix in that beaker is garbage. It would have to be very hot…
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Thank you for the informative post!
I don’t believe the concentrate or the terpenes are the problem. I paid a premium price to get AAAA shatter as well. I didn’t want to cheap out.
I know that I am personally doing something wrong in my process that is giving me this result.
The potential problems I have come up with are:
- Not a large enough sample size as I used 1 gram each time to test different ratios
- Introducing the terps too early, right after it has been fully decarbed, suggesting that the terps possibly degraded due to the heated shatter
- Maybe it wasn’t fully decarbed yet
If I’m wrong I appreciate any advice. I’m just here to learn but I want to make it clear that I’ve read every single post that relates to my problem on this forum as well as on others and I just haven’t found the answer yet.
3 hours of read time indicates that you haven’t read every single post that relates to your problem though. Maybe some of the questions and answers here will help though
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Unfortunately my hot plate doesn’t have temperatures on the dial so I used a meat thermometer and purposely tried to get it heated up to 145 degrees Celcius for around 30-45 minutes. I got this info from this youtube video.
Ive always wanted to hear peewee herman tell people the wrong way to make carts
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I read way before I made an account. Sorry if that was misleading. I only made an account after I realized I couldn’t find the details through reading alone and needed to ask questions.
Is peewee herman the guy in the youtube video I followed?
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Yes, i had to mute him loool
The shatter is shining through because your botanicals are fighting an uphill battle. You probably are gonna wanna opt for a different concentrate or a different terp blend if you taste too much shatter. Try adding disty to your shatter
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I would start with getting some small beakers off amazon and a hot plate that you can digitally set the temp to chase a termoprobe (that can read the temp of you concentrate while its decarbing). You can get all of this for under $100 and 2 day shipping
edit: or as qma and others have said just use distillate if the shatter terps in shatter bother you.
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