Indica, Sativa or Hybrid? Why Your Nose Might Know Better

Indica, Sativa or Hybrid? Why Your Nose Might Know Better

"Is it an indica or a sativa?" It's probably the most common question we hear at the counter. It's a fair question, and we still use those words ourselves.

But the science behind them is a lot shakier than most people think. This post isn't here to tell you that you're doing it wrong. It's an invitation to keep an open mind, trust your nose a little more, and pay attention to how your own body responds.

What a study of almost 90,000 samples found

In 2022, researchers from the University of Colorado Boulder and the cannabis platform Leafly published one of the largest studies of its kind in the journal PLOS One. They looked at lab results for 89,923 flower samples sold legally in six US states between 2013 and 2021.

For each sample they had the cannabinoids (THC, CBD, CBG and others), the terpenes (the aromatic compounds behind smell and flavour), and the label it was sold under: indica, sativa or hybrid.

Here's what they found, in plain words:

• Almost everything was THC-heavy. 96.5% of samples were THC-dominant. Balanced THC and CBD-heavy flower made up only a few percent.
• The labels didn't sort the flower. When researchers mapped samples by their chemistry, indica, sativa and hybrid were all mixed together. A sample sold as indica was likely to be chemically indistinguishable from one sold as sativa or hybrid.
• Smell-based groups worked better. Even a very simple system, grouping flower by its single strongest terpene, separated the samples better than the indica/sativa/hybrid labels did.
• Three main "families" showed up again and again, in every state, based on which terpenes dominated:

Family 1 — Caryophyllene + Limonene

Typical aromas: Peppery, spicy, citrus.

Family 2 — Myrcene + Pinene

Typical aromas: Earthy, musky, pine.

Family 3 — Terpinolene + Myrcene

Typical aromas: Fresh, herbal, fruity.

Families 1 and 2 covered 87.4% of the THC-dominant flower, so most of what's out there smells more alike than the menus suggest.

• Strain names were a bit more reliable, but not much. Some names were very consistent: 96% of "Purple Punch" products landed in family 1. Others weren't: "Tangie" from different growers was spread across families, with only 62.5% in its most common one.

The authors' conclusion was blunt: the indica/hybrid/sativa system doesn't reliably tell flower apart by its chemistry, so it's unlikely to reliably predict different effects either.

So why do we still use the labels?

Because they're a shared language, and they aren't completely random. The same study found one interesting pattern: the fresh, herbal terpinolene family had about twice as many sativa-labelled products as expected, and about half as many indicas. So there's a small grain of truth buried in there.

The researchers think the labels may once have matched real differences between old plant lines. After decades of crossbreeding and loose naming, that link has mostly faded.

That's why we'll keep showing indica, sativa and hybrid on our menu. We just think of them as a rough starting point, not a promise of how a strain will feel.

How we do it at 1UP

At the club, we've always encouraged members to choose with their senses rather than a label. In practice, that looks like this:

1. Look at the flower. Colour, structure, trichomes. It tells you about the care that went into it.
2. Smell it. This is the big one. What you smell are the terpenes, the same compounds the study used to sort flower into families. If a smell really pulls you in, that's worth paying attention to.
3. Tell us what you liked before. If you loved something peppery and citrusy last month, we can point you towards flower that smells similar, whatever its label says.
4. Tell us how it went. We always ask members how a strain felt afterwards. Over time, your feedback helps us describe strains more honestly than any website can.

Most people, when they're honest, end up choosing by smell and flavour anyway. We're simply saying: that instinct is a good one.

A few things to try

None of this is a rule. Think of it as a small experiment with yourself:

• Keep a simple note. Strain name, what it smelled like, how you felt. A few lines on your phone is enough. After a handful of entries, patterns start to show.
• Notice the smell families you return to. Are you drawn to fuel and pepper, earth and pine, or fresh and fruity? That might tell you more than "indica" ever did.
• Don't trust a name blindly. The same strain name from a different grower can be a very different plant. Smell it again, even if you've had "it" before.
• Remember the other factors. How much you use, how tired you are, what you ate, where you are and who you're with all change the experience. Start low with anything new.
• Talk to us. Share what worked and what didn't. That's how we all learn.

To be fair to the science

We want to be careful not to swap one myth for another. The study shows the labels don't match the chemistry. It doesn't prove that a given terpene family causes a given feeling. The authors say themselves that whether different cannabinoid and terpene mixes reliably produce different effects is still unknown and debated.

It's also worth knowing the study's limits. The data came from different labs using different methods, the researchers had no information about genetics or growing conditions, and one of the four authors works for Leafly, though the paper states Leafly had no role in the study design or analysis.

So take this as a nudge, not a new rulebook. Labels can be a handy shortcut. Your nose and your own experience are probably better guides. Stay curious, keep notes, and let us know what you discover.

Sources

• Smith, Vergara, Keegan & Jikomes (2022), The phytochemical diversity of commercial Cannabis in the United States, PLOS One.
• Watts et al. (2021), summarised by Dalhousie University: a separate Nature Plants study reaching a similar conclusion.
• SC Labs cannabis classification: a terpene-based system used by US labs and competitions.