The New Sommelier — Weed, Not Wine

The Trichome Institute in Denver, Colorado, is just one of the schools now offering sommelier-like certification in cannabis. The school’s pot somm program for “budtenders” and others is offered through on-line courses complete with educational materials such as a Weed Wheel, a take-off on the Wine Aroma Wheel. Courses revolve around a process called Interpening, whereby students identify cannabis varieties based on the plant’s terpenes  (the molecules that produce scent). According to certified pot sommeliers, the correct etiquette for dinner is puff, eat, sip, in that order.