Wedding Cake Strain: Tying the Knot with Endless Cannabis Varieties

The Wedding Cake strain is now a thing and the flavor choices grow exponentially from there. 

Back in the days of prohibition, one couldn’t be so picky on the strain the dealer was bringing. In today’s cannabis world, however, we are experiencing ever-expanding legalization and serious market growth. The result is that the options are nearly endless, making it difficult for the medical cannabis patient to get a handle on things. Now, there’s even a Wedding Cake strain, with the sweet aroma of vanilla frosting. This rare chemovar, also known as Pink Cookies, is the beloved progeny of a Triangle Kush and Animal Mints mixture.

Wonderful. Exotic. Delicious. But, should patients be buying the latest trend or cannabis rarity? With access to so many different genetics, the possibilities really are limitless but to get real healing, you’ll have to reign that in a bit.

Legalization Means Near Endless Cannabis Options

Setting aside the grind of choosing the right consumption methods (oil, edibles, tintures, concentrates, topicals, etc), finding the right cannabis strain (chemovar) is totally overwhelming!

A quick look into any dispensary or online store will turn up a veritable smorgasbord of options with increasingly complicated or whimsical names.

The Wedding Cake Strain

With such a specific and evocative name, where exactly did the Wedding Cake strain get its moniker?

The deliciously descriptive name comes from its scent profile, which is described as sweet and rich, reminiscent of vanilla. The wedding cake strain is also typically very high in THC, meaning that consumers should expect strong intoxicating and euphoric effects.

Trending along with Wedding Cake, one can find other cravings turned into cannabis. These include Orange Creamsicle, French Toast, even Lemon Cake. So, what is a consumer to do? Should one purchase a strain based on a flavor profile? If you’re looking for a pleasant Friday night, by all means, follow your nose. But the truth is, there are better places to start when you’re trying to target symptoms of medical conditions.

Cannabinoid Content is a Good Place to Start When Buying Cannabis

A good place to start when deciding on a cannabis strain is the cannabinoid content. THC (tetrahydrocannabinol) and CBD (cannabidiol) are the two main cannabinoids in cannabis and you’ll often see these presented as a ratio that defines the strain potency. This information will be printed directly on the label, making it a go-to for consumers trying to narrow the choices.

Consumers looking for an euphoric and intoxicating effect gravitate to a strain high in THC. While consumers trying to manage conditions, such as anxiety, may want a lower THC profile with more CBD.  Incidentally, both cannabinoids have significant therapeutic properties.

Once the perfect CBD:THC ratio is found, these will be still be tens of chemovars (strains) with that major cannabinoid profile. Now what?

Terpenes

Terpenes exist in a range of plants and are crucial to the survival of the plant. Aromatics play a key role in repelling predators and attracting pollinators. But, research suggests that many terpenes also have significant therapeutic potential for treating a range of symptoms. And with over one hundred terpenes present in cannabis, there are more than a few options. Fortunately, targeting a strain based on terpene content is one of the best ways to make sure you get what you need.

Linalool and Myrcene Help Patients With Pain

Linalool and myrcene are two terpenes that have demonstrated analgesic activity and could be just the thing to help to further narrow down your strain search if pain relief is what you are after.

One animal study, published in the Journal of Ethnopharmacology (1991), found that consumption of myrcene resulted in an analgesic effect that didn’t result in a tolerance build up over time. This means that the same dose worked for the same level of pain, even over time. Research also suggests that linalool reduces actual pain as well as the perception of pain.

Limonene and Caryophyllene May Lift Mood 

If you’re looking for a cannabis strain to help treat depression, then it might help to limit your search to chemovars containing the terpenes limonene and beta-caryophyllene. You can easily smell those strains with high limonene concentration, such as Durban Poison and Banana OG. That refreshing, lemony, scent tweaks the nostrils and clears the mind.

Beta-caryohphyllene is more spicy (Chemdog, Cookies & Cream, Original Glue), like peppercorns.

Limonene has demonstrated significant anti-anxiety and stress-reducing properties. In one animal study, published in Pharmacology, Biochemistry & Behavior (2013), mice inhaling the terpene demonstrated reduced anxiety levels while undergoing a maze test.

Another study, published in the Journal of Medicinal Food (2019), tested beta-caryophyllene’s effects on the depressive behavior of mice. Mice that received an oral dose of beta-caryophyllene showed significantly reduced depressive-like behavior, as defined by proxy-type behaviors such as failing to swim to save themselves, reduced preference for sugar water (lack of seeking pleasure), and failing the tail suspension test.

Back to the Rarified Wedding Cake Strain

From the Wedding Cake strain, consumers can expect high myrcene, limonene, and linalool content. It will be a good choice for pain management, especially that caused by inflammation. All three terpenes (myrcene, limonene, linalool) have demonstrated the potential to reduce inflammation and both myrcene and linalool have shown pain-relieving abilities.

What is the Future for Cannabis?

Thanks to a rolling back on prohibition, growers are better able to access new strains and seeds and experiment with different combinations.

Where THC content was once all that mattered, consumers are now also interested in high CBD and lower THC products. Consumers are also learning that terpenes play a significant role in their healing.

With the ability access so many choices and armed with the education to be discerning, it seems that consumers have the upper hand. The future of cannabis will likely lead to more personalized strains as growers refine chemovars to match research results. They say variety is the spice of life and this seems to stand true for the open cannabis market.