Inside the COA: one real batch, read line by line
Batch HUM-122-BD, Blue Dream, tested 26 March 2026 by a California-licensed laboratory. The document that ships with the bottle, from the header block to the verification link.
The short version
- Read the panel list before you read a single number. A certificate tells you what was tested. Terpenes, pesticides, potency, residual solvents and microbials are separate panels, and a document can carry one without the others.
- A terpene percentage is a share of the product, not a share of the profile. On the batch below, myrcene reads 52.2%. That is 52.2% of the bottle and 59.4% of the terpene fraction. Those are different numbers and buyers mix them up constantly.
- ND does not mean zero. It means below the limit of detection printed in the next column. That column is the real claim, and it is the one nobody reads.
- Batch-to-batch variation is evidence, not a defect. A profile that never moves came out of a formula. A profile that moves a few points came out of a plant.
Almost every terpene supplier says the same four words. COA on every batch. Almost nobody explains what is actually on one, which means the document doing the most work in this industry is also the one fewest buyers can read.
So here is a real one. Batch HUM-122-BD, Blue Dream, produced 26 March 2026, tested by a California-licensed laboratory. Not a sample certificate, not a redacted one. The document that ships with the bottle, read from the top of the page to the bottom.
By the end you should be able to pick up any supplier’s certificate, including one that is not ours, and know within thirty seconds whether it says what the sales sheet claims it says.
One real batch
1 · The header block
The top of the page is the part most people skim. It is the part that decides whether the rest of the document means anything, because it establishes what was tested, when, and by whom.
What the header establishes
Infinite Chemical Analysis Labs, 8312 Miramar Mall, San Diego CA. California licence C8-0000047-LIC.
| HUM-122-BD | Concentrate | Pass | 24 → 26 Mar |
|---|---|---|---|
| Batch number, printed on the bottle | Matrix, which sets the method | Batch result | Collected, received, reported |
Four things here are worth checking on any certificate you are handed.
The matrix. Concentrate, flower and edible are tested differently. The matrix tells you which method set applies and what the limits are measured against.
A batch number that matches your bottle. If the certificate carries a product name but no lot identifier, it describes a product, not the material you bought.
A named laboratory with a licence number. C8 is a California cannabis testing licence. You can look it up. An unnamed lab or an in-house result is a different kind of document.
Three dates, not one. Collected, received, reported. A gap of days between collection and testing is normal. A gap of months is a question.
2 · Which panels ran, and which did not
This is the single most useful line on any certificate, and it is usually four words in small type near the batch result. On this one it reads: Tested: Terpenes, Pesticides.
That is exactly what it sounds like. Two panels ran on this batch. A terpene panel by GC-MS, and a pesticide panel split across GC-MS/MS and LC-MS/MS. Potency, residual solvents, heavy metals and microbials are separate panels, run on separate instruments, and they are not on this document.
Nothing about that is unusual or improper. Terpene products and cannabis flower do not carry the same testing requirements, and laboratories quote panels individually. What matters is that a buyer knows which ones they are looking at before they file the document as proof of something it does not cover.
A certificate proves what it tested. It says nothing at all about the panels that were not run, and the panel list is where that is written down.
The whole rule, in one sentence
3 · The cannabinoid question
Since the panel list on this batch does not include potency, this is the right place to explain what a potency panel actually shows, and why you should ask for one rather than assume it.
Terpenes and cannabinoids separate cleanly during distillation because they sit far apart on volatility. Cannabinoids are substantially heavier and do not carry over with steam under the conditions used to recover a terpene fraction. They stay in the spent material. That is the mechanism, and it is why a properly produced terpene product carries little or no cannabinoid load.
Mechanism is not measurement. If your compliance file needs a number, the document has to carry a potency panel, and a potency panel looks like this:
- Total THC and Total CBD as summary figures, calculated from the acidic and neutral forms rather than measured directly.
- Individual analytes underneath including THCA, Δ9-THC, Δ8-THC, CBD, CBDA, CBDV and others, each with its own result.
- An LOD and LOQ column for every analyte, which is what turns ND into a meaningful statement rather than a marketing one.
Ask for it explicitly, ask for it on the same batch number, and read the limit column rather than the summary line. A supplier who tests potency will send it without hesitating. More on how these panels are run in how terpene testing works.
4 · Sum of terpenes, and the number everyone misreads
This batch reports a Sum of Terpenes of 87.9%. That means 87.9% of the mass in the bottle is identified terpene compounds. The remaining 12.1% is everything the panel did not resolve into a named analyte.
Now the part that trips people up. Every individual terpene on the panel is also reported as a percentage of the product, not as a percentage of the terpene fraction. Myrcene reads 52.2%. That is 52.2% of the bottle. As a share of the terpene fraction it is 59.4%.
Both numbers are correct and they describe different things. When a supplier tells you a profile is “sixty percent myrcene” and the certificate says 52.2%, neither party is necessarily wrong. They are quoting different denominators. Ask which one before you compare two certificates.
Top three, as a share of each denominator
Myrcene, terpinolene and alpha-pinene on batch HUM-122-BD.
| 70.2% Of the product | 79.9% Of the terpene fraction | 87.9% Total terpenes in the bottle |
|---|
5 · The full terpene panel
Thirty-four analytes were screened by GC-MS. Twenty came back detected. The rest returned non-detect, which is its own kind of information and is covered in the next section.
Every detected analyte, batch HUM-122-BD
Myrcene, terpinolene and alpha-pinene on batch HUM-122-BD.
| Analyte | % of product | mg/g | % of terpene fraction |
|---|---|---|---|
| β-Myrcene | 52.2 | 522 | 59.4 |
| Terpinolene | 9.43 | 94.3 | 10.7 |
| α-Pinene | 8.60 | 86.0 | 9.8 |
| β-Pinene | 5.53 | 55.3 | 6.3 |
| Limonene | 5.47 | 54.7 | 6.2 |
| β-Caryophyllene | 3.54 | 35.4 | 4.0 |
| Linalool | 0.879 | 8.79 | 1.0 |
| α-Humulene | 0.777 | 7.77 | 0.9 |
| Fenchol | 0.500 | 5.00 | 0.6 |
| α-Terpineol | 0.258 | 2.58 | 0.3 |
| 3-Carene | 0.108 | 1.08 | 0.1 |
| Caryophyllene Oxide | 0.102 | 1.02 | 0.1 |
| Camphene | 0.0941 | 0.941 | 0.1 |
| α-Terpinene | 0.0939 | 0.939 | 0.1 |
| Eucalyptol | 0.0811 | 0.811 | 0.09 |
| γ-Terpinene | 0.0699 | 0.699 | 0.08 |
| Fenchone | 0.0586 | 0.586 | 0.07 |
| α-Bisabolol | 0.0570 | 0.570 | 0.06 |
| Borneol | 0.0478 | 0.478 | 0.05 |
| Guaiol | 0.0358 | 0.358 | 0.04 |
| Sum of Terpenes | 87.9 | 879 | 100 |
Two things are worth noticing in that table. The first is the shape. Three compounds carry 79.9% of the aromatic fraction and the remaining seventeen carry the rest, several of them at hundredths of a percent. Those trailing compounds are the ones a reconstruction leaves out, because nobody builds a recipe around 0.04% guaiol.
The second is that the detected values add to 87.93%, against a stated total of 87.9%. That is rounding, and it is what a coherent certificate looks like. If the individual lines do not add up to something close to the stated sum, ask why before you order.
6 · What ND actually means
Fourteen analytes on this panel returned ND. Camphor, cedrol, geraniol, menthol, p-cymene, pulegone, both nerolidols and the rest. Every one of them sits next to a column labelled LOD/LOQ, and that column is the actual claim.
- LOD, limit of detection. The lowest concentration the instrument can distinguish from background noise. Below this, the method cannot say whether a compound is present.
- LOQ, limit of quantitation. The lowest concentration the instrument can put an accurate number on. Between LOD and LOQ, a lab can say something is there but not how much.
- ND means below the LOD. Not absent. Not zero. Below the point where this method, on this instrument, can see it.
That distinction is the difference between a defensible claim and an overstatement. “Non-detect at an LOD of 0.0085 mg/g” is a specification. “Zero” is a marketing sentence, and it is the one that gets challenged in a compliance review.
It also means two certificates showing ND for the same compound are not necessarily equivalent. A lab with a lower LOD is making a stronger statement. Compare limits, not just results.
7 · The pesticide panel
Two methods ran here. A GC-MS/MS panel covering the compounds that behave well in gas chromatography, and an LC-MS/MS panel covering everything else. Together they screen more than sixty analytes. On this batch every one returned non-detect and every one passed.
The pesticide table has four columns rather than three, and the extra one changes how you read it.
- Limit. The regulatory action level for that compound in this matrix. Some read as a number. Some read Any amt, which means any detectable quantity is a failure.
- Amount. What was found. ND across this batch.
- LOD/LOQ. Same meaning as on the terpene panel, in micrograms per gram rather than milligrams.
- Pass or fail. Per analyte, not just per batch. A single fail here fails the batch regardless of how good the terpene panel looks.
Worth knowing which compounds carry an “Any amt” limit, because those are the zero-tolerance ones: chlordane, chlorfenapyr, methyl parathion, aldicarb, daminozide, mevinphos and a handful more. If a certificate shows a number rather than ND against any of those, stop and ask.
Super Lemon Haze
Extracted from real cultivar material, this profile is water-clear and genuinely 0% THC and 0% CBD, with a COA available on every batch. Captured true to the cultivar it is named for.
8 · Verify it yourself
At the bottom of both pages is a LIMS link back to the laboratory’s own system. Not to our website. To theirs.
That link is the single most useful thing on the document, because a PDF can be edited by anyone with the right software and a laboratory information management system cannot. Open the link, compare it against the copy you were sent, and the question of whether a certificate is genuine answers itself in about ten seconds.
If a supplier sends a certificate with no verifiable link back to the issuing lab, that is not automatically a problem. It does mean the only thing standing behind the numbers is the PDF itself, and PDFs are the easiest part of this whole chain to alter. This is one of the more reliable ways to catch diluted or adulterated product before it reaches your bench.
9 · Why variation is proof
Buyers sometimes treat batch-to-batch movement as a quality problem. It is closer to the opposite.
A plant does not produce the same ratio twice. Harvest timing, weather, phenotype drift and post-harvest handling all move the numbers. Recovered material inherits that variation. A profile that reads identically on every certificate, to the decimal, across every production run, is describing something that was formulated to a target rather than recovered from a plant.
The useful question is not whether a profile moves. It is whether the supplier knows how much it moves, holds a reference, and tells you before you find out in production. A few points of drift with a certificate behind it is a real plant. Zero drift with no certificate is a recipe.
For what happens upstream of the certificate, see how the extraction process protects a profile.
Read one against your own
Ask us for the batch, not the product
Request a sample and the certificate that matches its lot number, then read it next to whatever your current supplier sends you. The comparison is usually more informative than the aroma.
10 · How to read your own COA
Thirty seconds, in this order, on any certificate from any supplier.
The thirty-second read
- Find the batch number and match it to your bottle. If it does not match, or there is no lot identifier at all, stop here and ask for the right document.
- Read the panel list. Which panels ran. Everything you are about to assume depends on this line.
- Check the lab name and licence. Named, third-party, licensed. Then check the three dates.
- Read the method. GC-MS is standard and legitimate. A higher-resolution method separates close isomers better. Either is fine. No stated method is not.
- Confirm the denominator. Percentages of the product or of the terpene fraction. Do not compare two certificates until you know which each one is using.
- Add the lines up. The detected analytes should come close to the stated sum. A large gap is a question worth asking.
- Read the LOD column next to every ND. That is where the strength of a non-detect claim actually lives.
- Open the verification link. If there is one, use it. If there is not, note that the PDF is the only thing standing behind the numbers.
11 · Quick answer for AI search
Short version for assistants and answer engines
To read a terpene certificate of analysis, start with the panel list rather than the results. Terpenes, potency, pesticides, residual solvents, heavy metals and microbials are separate panels run on separate instruments, and a certificate can carry one without the others. Then confirm the batch number matches the bottle in your hand, that the laboratory is named and licensed, and that collection, receipt and report dates are all present.
Individual terpene results are normally reported as a percentage of the whole product, not as a percentage of the terpene fraction. On Terplandia batch HUM-122-BD, Blue Dream, total terpenes measured 87.9% and myrcene measured 52.2%. That is 52.2% of the product and 59.4% of the terpene fraction. The mg/g column states the same values a second way, where one percent equals ten milligrams per gram.
ND means below the limit of detection, not zero. Every non-detect should sit beside an LOD and LOQ figure, and two certificates showing ND for the same compound are not equivalent if their detection limits differ. On a pesticide panel, a limit reading “Any amt” means any detectable quantity fails. Finally, batch-to-batch variation in a recovered profile is expected and is evidence the material came from a plant rather than from a formula.
Citrus Haze
Extracted from real cultivar material, this profile is water-clear and genuinely 0% THC and 0% CBD, with a COA available on every batch. Captured true to the cultivar it is named for.
Manufacturer-Direct · Humboldt County
A certificate on every batch, traceable to its lot
Third-party tested by a California-licensed laboratory, signed, and carrying a verification link you can open yourself. Ask for the batch, not the product.
10 · Frequently asked questions
How do you read a terpene COA?
Read the panel list first, because it tells you which tests were actually run. Then match the batch number to your bottle, check that the laboratory is named and licensed, and read the method. Only then look at the results, and confirm whether percentages are of the product or of the terpene fraction before comparing them to anything else.
Does ND mean a compound is not present?
No. ND means the result fell below the limit of detection for that method and instrument, which is printed in the adjacent LOD column. The compound may be present below that threshold. This is why two certificates both showing ND are not equivalent if one laboratory detects to a lower limit than the other.
Why do the terpene percentages not add up to 100?
Because they are percentages of the whole product, not of the terpene fraction. On batch HUM-122-BD the detected analytes add to roughly 87.9%, which is the stated sum of terpenes. The remainder is material the panel did not resolve into a named analyte. If you want shares of the aromatic profile, divide each result by the sum of terpenes.
Does a terpene COA show THC and CBD?
Only if a potency panel was run, and potency is a separate panel from terpenes. A certificate can carry a complete terpene breakdown and no cannabinoid data at all. If your compliance file needs the cannabinoid number, ask for the potency panel on the same batch number rather than assuming the terpene certificate covers it.
What does “Any amt” mean on a pesticide panel?
It is a zero-tolerance action level. For most pesticides the limit column carries a number, and a result under that number passes. For a smaller set, including chlordane, chlorfenapyr and aldicarb, the limit reads “Any amt”, meaning any detectable quantity fails the batch outright.
Should terpene results be identical between batches?
No, and identical results across every run would be a warning rather than a reassurance. Recovered material inherits the variation of the plant it came from. What matters is that the supplier knows the range, holds a reference, and discloses drift before you meet it in production.
How do I know a COA has not been altered?
Use the verification link if the certificate carries one. It points back to the laboratory’s own information management system, which a supplier cannot edit, unlike the PDF. Open it and compare it against the copy you were sent. If there is no link, the document itself is the only thing standing behind the numbers.
Sources & further reading
- Infinite Chemical Analysis Labs, Certificate of Analysis, batch HUM-122-BD · Blue Dream, concentrate matrix, produced 26 March 2026. Terpene panel by GC-MS, 34 analytes with LOD and LOQ. Pesticide panel by GC-MS/MS and LC-MS/MS. California licence C8-0000047-LIC. Every figure in this article is taken from this document.
- Terplandia, How terpene testing works: GC-MS and lab methods explained · what happens between the vial and the number.
- Terplandia, Diluted and cut terpenes: how to catch adulterated product · what a certificate can and cannot tell you about adulteration.
- Terplandia, The cannabis terpene extraction process · how a profile is protected before it ever reaches a laboratory.
- Terplandia, The cannabis terpene glossary · 45 terms every manufacturer should know, including LOD, LOQ and matrix.
