After almost a month of using
Holy Terp, I feel like I can talk about subjective, secondary terpene effects.
This is a tricky subject. Everyone differs on their sensitivity and attention to subtle things like secondary effects from terpenes. I intentionally didn't talk about it in
my mini-review of the 2 flavors I wrote a while back. It's easy for people to read something, get over hyped, then disappointed if their experience varies. Anyway, after a few weeks of working with them I feel like I have some experience worth sharing.
Background Context
When I ordered, I got 2 specific flavors on purpose. The Philosopher and Couch Lock. If I was just looking for pot flavor, I would have gone with some of their other ones that appear to have more combinations of terpenes in them (Chill, Jack, etc). I wanted to try the two that I got because I suspected Philosopher was mostly pinene and Couch Lock was mostly myrcene. I wanted to see if I could detect specific terpene effects and those are two terpenes that I'm familiar with, and have opposite effects, so I was hoping it would help with my subjective test.
Before getting into vaping concentrates in ejuice, I vaped buds for years (smoked for decades before). I strictly like sativas in the daytime and indicas at night. Sativas don't burn me out during the day and I feel 'upity'. Indicas super relax me in the evening and I go to sleep rested. Sativas at night make me anxious and I have trouble getting to sleep (strong sativas like Durban Poison will go as far as make me feel wired if I consume too much regardless of time of day). Indicas burn me out if I consume them during the day, and generally always give me a strong crash.
The Philosopher
I'm now certain I'm feeling sativa-like alpha-pinene effects. I eventually started mixing Philosopher 50/50 with Couch Lock because I found Philosopher by itself a little too pine sappy and I've come to really like the combo of these two flavors together. Last night I realized I've had some trouble getting to sleep since New Years. Also, my past 2 tanks were mixed with OG Kush shatter. If there were any significant terpenes left in the concentrate it should be amplifying the Kush couch lock effect. However, while vaping through the evening on the couch I've been noticing the edges of that distinct Durban Poison like wired effect. While it's subtle, I've felt this enough that I'm not going to mix Philosopher in anything that I vape at night anymore (time to get another tank so I can have AM/PM setups).
Couch Lock
I am also certain that I'm getting that indica burnout crash effect that's the signature of myrcene. This also took some time to become aware of, but I've noticed I've had a lot of sleepy daytime moments (distinct burnout crash). I suspect it wasn't so obvious to me because I've been combining with Philosopher, but it's there and I've been more aware of it during the day (enough to encourage a day nap, or sleepiness while reading, but not enough to help me sleep at night). Again, while it's subtle, I've felt this enough that I'm not going to mix Couch Lock with anything that I vape during the day anymore.
So, there you have it. True to their subtle form, the terpenes just took some time to recognize. I feel that since I've felt it enough to want to change my habits about which I use when, then it's safe to say that there are subjective, secondary terpene effects to be had from the Holy Terp mixers. Your results may still vary.
** EDIT: to be totally clear, I don't dislike either of them (I'm very happy with both). I'll definitely use each for appropriate daytime and nighttime mixes. I'm very interested in the other 'flavors' now as well which combine additional terpenes, since these things tend to synergize.