What should – and shouldn’t – go in cannabis vaporizers? California wants to find out.

When Laura Fogelman, vice president and chief of staff at California-based vaporizer company Pax Labs, talks about the flavors in cannabis, it’s usually in the context of preventing products from being attractive to children.

But beyond a state ban on synthetic terpenes and artificial flavors like coffee and bubblegum in cannabis, there’s no guide for vape companies on what flavors can be included in their products. The California Department of Cannabis Control wants to change that.

In December, the agency awarded the University of California, Los Angeles $1.23 million to study naturally occurring flavor compounds in cannabis flower. Results, expected in two years, could give regulators an objective and standardized toolkit to test for the compounds that give cannabis its flavor and aroma.

Manufacturers will know what to make, consumers will know what they’re getting and regulators will have a guide for enforcement – and the research holds the promise of helping to establish consistent regulations that will ensure vaporized cannabis products are safe.

“From Pax’s perspective, this is exactly what the industry needs,” Fogelman told MJBizDaily.

“Cannabis is one of the most widely used yet least understood plants,” she said. “This will help inform consumers and it will help us establish smarter regulation that operators can rely on. Clear rules require clear science.”

What should a cannabis vape taste like?

Led by Ziva Cooper, director of the University of California Los Angeles Center for Cannabis and Cannabinoids, the research team will analyze at least 150 flower samples from DCC-licensed operators.

The study will identify the top three to five terpenes in each sample strain, and define “natural terpene concentration ranges to distinguish authentic plant flavors from prohibited additives,” according to the DCC.

In turn, this will allow regulators “to establish scientific standards and evidence-based policies to regulate these compounds in commercially sold cannabis products,” UCLA said in a news release.

“If you can test for it, you can regulate it,” said Pamela Epstein, chief legal and regulatory officer for participating research partner Terpene Belt Farms, a subsidiary of California-based molecular farming company Nexus Agriscience.

“It makes regulations actionable because you can’t enforce a subjective standard.”

The samples will include different cultivars harvested at different times in various places. Cannabis flower handling, storage and testing will take place at Nexus Agriscience’s facility in Sacramento.

“Cannabis is the most diverse aromatic on earth – it ranges from citrus to sweet to pine and covers the flavor wheel,” she added.  “We want to preserve that.”

Cannabis vaporizer manufacturers follow uneven standards

Fogelman said the protocols Pax follows vary depending on state regulations.

“Flavor conversation is complex,” she said. “There’s not consistency around how flavor is defined or regulated. We have to work on a state-by-state basis to follow varied regulations around what is and isn’t allowable, but we have strict requirements for what we put in our own products.”

Brandon Byrne, co-founder of Michigan-based Vapin Ape, said his company already strives to mimic cannabis’ natural aromas when concocting flavors.

“We start with the chemistry of the original cultivar, not with a flavor target,” Byrne said. “We aim to recreate the aromatic footprint in vape form. Our goal is to stay aligned with what the plant can actually produce.”

Because cannabis produces such diverse flavor profiles, Byrne believes objective research data will demonstrate that artificial additives are unnecessary.

Establishing uniform standards for cannabis vapes

Federal prohibition means researchers can’t study flower grown outside of California. But the hope is that their work will inform other states, and uniform standards will be established nationally.

Alexa Wilson, vice chair of Colorado-based research partner S3 Collective, views the research as an opportunity to build a global framework based on science.

Uniform standards will ensure that inhalable products sold in state-regulated cannabis markets will include the same terminology on all packaging labels – no matter where they’re sold.

“I want doctors to be able to guide patients on what’s best for them versus what’s allowed,” Wilson said. “There has to be a way to understand what these compounds are doing.”

Results may also relax current rules.

Nexus CEO Shareef El-Sissi noted that there are cannabis strains that have natural candy flavors. And these should be allowed in vape products, he argued.

“Experts haven’t defined what it means to be a gelato. There’s a strain of cannabis called Indiana Bubblegum that expresses candy flavor,” he said.

“Instead of fighting to keep the artificial stuff alive, let’s show that cannabis has this diverse flavor. Let’s find the maximum expression of cannabis, define it and use that going forward.”

The power of the sense of smell

Daniel Cook, CEO of Oregon-based True Terpenes, noted that terpenes are critical because they give vape products their aroma. The sense of smell is associated with memory and nostalgia and “can collapse decades into seconds,” he said.

“With wines, coffee and chocolate, people assume it’s taste, but the nuance and the real difference is with aroma and smell,” Cook said.

Cook said that the study will be challenging because many of the molecules in cannabis are lightweight, making them difficult to track.

But the information it uncovers will still be useful.

“It’s a challenging endeavor to manage the compounds in cannabis – they’re different molecular weights, and it’s difficult to track some of these compounds,” Cook said. “Because of regulatory limitations, there’s just not a lot of research and data in place.”

Margaret Jackson can be reached at margaret.jackson@mjbizdaily.com.