“Oops what joint smell”. We have all said this at one time, regardless of how familiar we are with the marijuana. The smell of cannabis it is unmistakable and not exactly pleasant. In fact, there are those who compare it to the one given off by skunks.
This has for years drawn the attention of scientists. What can skunks and cannabis have in common? The stench of these mammals is known to be due to a number of sulfur compounds that they give off through their anal glands when they feel threatened.
Sulfur seems to be the key. And it makes sense, since other plants with a bad smell, although not necessarily skunk, also contain compounds with this element. It is, for example, the case of Garlic. This again is something that is interesting to scientists, since those malodorous compounds Garlic are also responsible for some of its beneficial properties.
For this reason, a team of scientists from various laboratories specialized in obtaining and analyzing plant extracts has carried out an investigation, now published in ACS Omega, which establishes which substances are responsible for the smell of cannabis. They have done it in order to find out if they could have beneficial properties. But little by little, at the moment we only have the reason why marijuana reminds us of skunks.
Looking for similarities to skunks in marijuana
To carry out this study, the authors extracted, measured and analyzed the odorous compounds present in the flowers of 13 cannabis strains. They did it both separately and together, to see which were the ones that really had a greater weight in that pungent aroma that reminds us so much of skunks.
Those responsible seemed to be divided into two groups: the volatile sulfur compounds (VSC) and the terpenes. The latter are abundant in other plants, such as lavender and rosemary, but it is well known that these do not smell exactly bad. Whether we like them more or less is a matter of taste, but objectively it is not exactly a question of foul scent.
In addition, VSCs have that point in common that we were looking for with skunks: sulfur. Identical to those of cannabis have not been found in other plants. However, they do have a strong resemblance to some substances in garlic, as you can see in the image below.
This led scientists to more or less see where the causes of the characteristic smell of cannabis. However, it remained to be known which of the VSCs was the main responsible.
The causes of the smell
They found up to five volatile sulfur compounds that could be behind the smell of cannabis: VSC3, VSC4, VSC5, VSC6 and VSC7.
Both the flowers and the more or less rich extracts in each of the VSC were evaluated by four members of a panel of experts specialized in aromas.
Thus, they saw that the VSC3 it seems to be the one that provides a more similar scent to that of skunks. In some extracts that also gave off this pungent aroma there were small amounts of other VSC3, but these varied between different plant strains. VSC3 was the connecting link for everyone. However, these scientists consider that although this is the main compound, the influence of the rest, in small amounts, is what gives the exact smell; which, in fact, varies slightly between strains.
Another curious fact was that when all the VSCs were mixed in a vial, the panel members agreed that the result was a floral scent. And the same when the VSC3 was in a low proportion, 1%.
Finally, if the VSC3 was added a good amount of VSC5 the initial skunk smell was getting even more smelly.
As for the plants, the smell of cannabis similar to that of skunks became more and more intense as they bloomed, reaching its maximums. when the flowers were healing and drying. This indicates that VSC highs were reached, especially VSC3. However, after a week the odor began to disappear, in parallel with a decrease in the levels of volatile sulfur compounds.
This is because, as the name suggests, they are very volatile. In fact, it is the reason why the smell of marijuana is so intense and characteristic. As soon as you open a bag, the room is flooded with its aroma, due to the compounds that volatilize and travel through the air to our olfactory epithelium. Come on, the smell of joint gets in our noses. And in the hair, and in the clothes, and in the bag … At least, now, we already know why.