I mean that the majority of US “hemp” being grown was not bred from industrial hemp strains.
Meaning folks took classic highT strains bred enough of them and found the chemovars that have the allele flipped so instead of having the genetics that code for the enzymatic machinery to turn CBGa into THCa (THC synthase), the plants have the enzymatic machinery that turn CBGa into CBDa (CBD synthase). And now finally have bred plants that have neither, so that the CBGa builds up with no synthase to convert it to either, leaving you with plants with 18%+ CBG(a) as the majority cannabinoid.
…and because US “hemp” has this heritage, it means that the ancestors of modern US “hemp” were bred not only for increased cannabinoid levels (THC/CBD) but also for their olfactory and flavor profiles.
Industrial hemp has a very long history of being exclusively bred for fiber and seed/seed oil content with no regard for olfactory or flavor profile.
So I guess what I am pondering, is whether or not terpene(oid) fractions separated from industrial hemp would even be comparable to US “hemp” derived terpene(oid) fractions.
I highly doubt it. Not now, maybe in the near future.
@peasandlovage Also its good for us all to remember that 0.3% is a very arbitrary line to draw. “hemp” is a legal definition and has no scientific meaning. “high quality” cannabis was referred to as Indian Hemp, but those plants would not qualify as “hemp” by todays 0.3%THC standard.
And lets all remember that that number was simply thrown out by a respected scientist at a conference and was definitely not arrived at by scientific means. It does not take into account that modern US “hemp” was bred from HighT cannabis (as described above) and that it’s very very difficult to have a plant with 18%-20% CBD without THC drifting above 0.3% by harvest. ie it doesn’t take into account modern highC (15-20% CBD) US “hemp” chemovars.
see:
Small, Ernest, Cronquist, Arthur, 1976, “A Practical and Natural Taxonomy for Cannabis”, Taxon , 25(4) pgs. 405-435. for a reference to the 0.3% THC “hemp” definition