Volatile compounds in cannabis flower can easily be lost, leaving dispensary customers with a product that’s not as effective or flavorful as it should be. These packaging technologies use science to tackle the problem.

Kate Bertrand Connolly, Freelance Writer

June 17, 2021

3 Slides

Like many foods and pharmaceuticals, cannabis flower is sensitive to moisture, oxygen, and light. These ambient conditions can undercut the flower’s effectiveness, flavor, and aroma — the very characteristics consumers want and expect. Product integrity hinges on packaging that provides ample protection from these environmental threats.

Finding a pack that protects against light is fairly straightforward, but safeguarding flower from degradation related to oxygen and moisture is more challenging. Protecting the flower’s terpenes, or “terps,” is essential. Terpenes are volatile organic compounds that give cannabis flower its aroma and flavor, and influence its effects.

Terp-protecting strategies include terpene-enhancing technology, modified-atmosphere packaging, and humidity-control packets. Here are three examples from the legal-cannabis marketplace that demonstrate how each of these approaches protects the integrity of cannabis flower.

About the Author(s)

Kate Bertrand Connolly

Freelance Writer

Kate Bertrand Connolly has been covering innovations, trends, and technologies in packaging, branding, and business since 1981.

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