A percentage can look very confident while leaving out the most important part of the sentence. Percent of what? Without that answer, even a tidy little number can cause an impressive amount of confusion.
Boussera Lemons’ 28g flower report gives us a real example. One terpene appears as 0.9319% in the results table, yet represents about one-third of the measured terpene total. Both descriptions can be correct. They just have different denominators.
Start with the actual measurements
| Entry | Percentage reported in the sample table |
|---|---|
| Terpinolene | 0.9319% |
| Beta-caryophyllene | 0.5088% |
| Trans-beta-ocimene | 0.3652% |
| Valencene | 0.2806% |
| Total measured terpenes | 2.8273% |
Page three contains the full terpene table. The total includes more entries than the four individual compounds shown here. Adding only these four rows will not reproduce the complete total.
Now change the question
If we ask what share of that measured terpene total is terpinolene, the arithmetic is 0.9319 ÷ 2.8273 × 100 = approximately 32.96%. Rounded, that is about 33% of the measured terpene total.
That 33% is our calculation from the reported values. It is not a separate lab result, not 33% of the entire flower and definitely not a THC percentage. The molecule did not grow overnight. We changed the reference group.
Why a chart can look different from a table
A chart showing the relative shares of measured terpenes can add up to 100%, even when the sample’s total terpene result is much smaller. Read the chart caption and its labels before comparing it with the table. Also remember that “Others” can collect several smaller entries; it is not the name of a mysterious extra terpene.
Neither view measures the share of the smell or predicts an effect. Composition, aroma and an individual experience are different questions. The useful habit is to keep the denominator in the sentence: percentage in the sample, or percentage of the measured terpene total.
This example belongs to the Boussera Lemons 28g flower report created September 9, 2026. The five-pack has a separate batch and report; its percentages should not be swapped into this calculation.
Source: full Boussera Lemons flower report — TCR-F-BLOZ-901
Related: why cannabis aroma involves more than terpenes
Sources and further reading
Nature Plants: research on cannabis labeling and chemical variation
