Cannabinoids get a lot of credit, but when it comes to Cannabis, terpenes make the real magic.
When you’re washing, extracting or concentrating weed into oil, terps must be protected at all costs. That’s the philosophy behind Sun Extractions, a lab out of New Jersey that has gathered a team together to launch concentrates into the rec market.
“We specialize in terpene preservation,” said CEO Nate Green. He works with industry veteran Noel Liese, a pioneer of live resin extraction from Nectars (@nectarscollective), who has nearly 30 years in the oil game.
“Noel and I are terp hunters,” Green said. “We go across the state looking for the best terpene profiles. We go, we smell things, and we know if it smells good, it’s going to be bangin’ in the product.” The nose never lies, Chico. Good in means good out, especially in the hands of someone like Liese.
“We have always made it into an ingredient and then put it back together,” Liese said, referring to his process of breaking down the elements of the plant, “and in doing so, part of that separation of ingredients makes it so we save the terpenes.”
Their stated goal is to treat the plant in a way that the product expresses the same characteristics as the plant itself, so they use 100% Cannabis terpenes and Cannabis oils from their own production. No non-Cannabis additives or flavorings ever make it into a product.
The resulting oil makes for tasty tasting vapes. We got our hands on their Mint Jelly All-in-One (AIO); we hit that just about everywhere we went for a week and it never faltered. That’s the beauty of the AIO – you can hit it at the bar, a club, a concert, in front of the airport, outside the Dentist’s office – you name it. Culture meets convenience.
The extract itself was bright, herbaceous and energizing, and the unit itself worked well until the last drop.
With this stellar entry in the vape category, we’re looking forward to seeing what the Sun Extractions team brings us in the future.
This article was originally published in the February 2026 issue of Northeast Leaf.
View our archive on issuu.
