Our Story, From the Beginning

Our Story

Cali Terpenes: The Origins

The idea behind Cali Terpenes came around almost spontaneously during a trip to California. At the start of Autumn 2016, you could almost feel the euphoria in the cannabis sector, whch was well on its way to transitioning to a recreational market.

Medicinal regulation has been a thing in the state of California since 1996; growers and companies dedicated to the sector spent almost two years dealing with the complicated conflict between state law and federal laws. While the government of California considered growing and distributing cannabis for medicinal reasons legal, on a federal level cannabis was still considered an illegal substance catalogued as level 1 (the hardest drugs).

Many people suffered legal consequences due to this contradiction, so a lot of people stayed away from the industry.

It wasn’t until December of 2014, when the Obama administration, pressured by the growing cannabis sector, decided to approve Rohrabacher-Farr, an amendment that took away the DEA’s funds for investigating activities related to cannabis that had been approved by state law. This made for quite a relief and safer production and manufacturing for many, as well as less legal risks – this caused an increase in activity in the sector.

This is how the cannabis sector was doing when we took our trip to the West Coast, there was an air of progress and a flowering industry about, taking steady strides towards the future. Medicinal cannabis consumers could get quality products made under safe conditions, and soon enough with the recreational laws in place, everyone could get regulated and safe cannabis.

A Journey that Started Decades Ago

If we look back for a moment, our passion for cannabis actually started much, much earlier – towards the end of the 70s. This was back when our CEO started their journey to discover the secrets hidden behind this age-old plant.

A few years later, around the year 2000, with plenty more knowledge, they started their own headshop and soon after, founded the seed bank Eva Seeds.

A journey that took decades and was a necessary learning process so that, in that trip to California years later, something magical could happen. We were visiting a friends farm and grow, and we were all enthusiastic about the increase in cannabis culture in the West Coast; we wanted to know everything about innovations on the market. We found out that a lot of new products were focusing on concentrates and how to obtain compounds such as cannabinoids on their own, but… What about cannabis aromas?

Some extract specialists and professionals began to realize that the products designed to be high cannabinoid concentrates, actually lost a lot of their original aroma. This is where the idea of extracting terpenes from cannabis and adding it to cannabinoid concentrates came from, enriching its aroma, flavor and synergy.

We had a Californian friend who was involved with this project, and they were having a few issues getting it under way. He told us that terpene extraction was incredibly difficult as it wasn’t stable and was hard to maintain; the cost, which was quite high considering the low yield of terpenes from cannabis was, and standardization, which is incredibly important when it comes to producing products for the regulated market and impossible to do when using cannabis for extracts.

We were enjoying the delicious breeze and aromas from our friend’s farm, getting in the last few sun rays of the day, and we began to think – what could we do to solve this issue? How could we get these special aromas out into the world?

The Start of Cali Terpenes

That trip changed us, without a doubt – as soon as we got home to Barcelona, we worked alongside experts in chemistry and biochemistry on all of those questions that we had been asking. What are the exact aromatic properties of this plant? Are they exclusive to cannabis? Could they be found in other plants?

And we discovered that each and every compound in cannabis aroma can be found in other plants.

Now, all that we had left was to manage to construct and reproduce each aromatic profile so that we could create a stable, standardized, and unlimited supply of each aromatic complex. Would it be possible? We were sure that it was going to be hard, but not impossible.

Thanks to a long research and development process with our team of cannabis experts, in some of the most specialized installations in Europe, we managed to create our first cannabis terpene profiles, the famous Cali Terpenes terpene profiles that add a little more life and magic to many products that have been created since then.

Our name was an obvious choice, as thanks to the amazing Californians who made us feel at home, rediscover cannabis and natures power; terpenes.

Researching Today, Improving Tomorrow

When setting up Cali Terpenes, we believed that the legal cannabis sector was going to benefit the most, but we slowly realized that we had created; a product with many uses in multiple industries such as food, cosmetics and even the pharmaceutical industry.

We quickly learnt that our aromas offer new possibilities to a wide range of companies, allowing them to make multiple brand-new products. These products helped to get rid of some of the barriers established around this stigmatized plant. Nowadays:

Food and beverage companies can produce products with cannabis aromas and flavors, legally and under all regulations. Consumers can enjoy products with identical aromas to the strain they represent. This has lead to an increase in value in companies that offer these products, who knew exactly how to make the most of such an important moment in cannabis history, and place themselves on the food market.
The vaping sector was completely revolutionized, as up until now cannabis aromas were incredibly hard to add to e-liquids. Plus, our terpene-based aromas favor the entourage effect alongside the main active compounds in cannabis.
The stigma associated with cannabis is instantly taken away, as you can enjoy the amazing qualities and benefits of terpenes in all kinds of products without any unwanted psychoactive effects.
Our philosophy and some of our products are directly associated to reducing risks associated with smoking. We’re betting on our own e-liquid range, without nicotine, and some of the best VG ratios on the market.
We’re still constantly growing, innovating and learning and understanding the needs of our customers, whether they’re individuals or professionals. We’re pioneers with revolutionary products such as Terps Spray®, which allows you to use your aromas in products such as finished dishes or dried herbs. We plan on producing even more surprises…