The Forgotten Children

  • By Jeremy Amos

Published: Monday, Nov 24, 2025

There's a phenomenon in large families where the middle children get overlooked.

 

Not because they're less talented or less interesting. But because the oldest commands attention by virtue of being first, and the youngest commands attention by virtue of being... well, the baby.

 

The middle kids? They learn to be self-sufficient. Resourceful. Quietly capable. They develop their own identities away from the spotlight.

 

Years later, you realize they were doing remarkable things the whole time. You just weren't paying attention.

Title

The Middle Children

CBD is the oldest child. Got all the attention. Made the cover of magazines. Everyone knew its name.

 

THC is the youngest. Controversial, sure. But impossible to ignore. People have opinions (oh so many) about THC.

 

And then there are the middle children: CBG, CBN, CBC, CBDV, THCV. We call them "minor cannabinoids." But that name is misleading. They're not minor in impact. They're minor in concentration. Most hemp plants produce them at 1% or less.

 

So they got overlooked. While everyone was focused on CBD and THC, these other cannabinoids were quietly doing interesting things in research labs.

 

And now we're finally starting to understand what they can do. What they might become. Why they deserve their own spotlight.

Title

Let's Talk About CBG

 

Cannabigerol—the mother cannabinoid. Every other cannabinoid starts as CBG before the plant converts it into CBD, THC, CBC, or others. It's the stem cell of cannabis biochemistry.

 

For years, nobody paid much attention to it because hemp plants convert most of their CBG into other cannabinoids as they mature. By harvest, there's barely any left.

 

But then farmers started experimenting with early harvests and selective breeding. Suddenly we could get hemp with 10-15% CBG instead of 1%.

And researchers started noticing things.

 

CBG showed up differently than CBD in studies. Where CBD seemed to work broadly on the endocannabinoid system, CBG appeared more targeted. Neuroinflammation. Intraocular pressure. Bacterial resistance. It wasn't doing what CBD does. It was doing something else entirely.

 

That's when we realized: calling it "minor" was like calling the middle kid "less important" just because they're quieter than their siblings.

Title

Or Take CBN - Cannabinol

 

For decades, CBN was considered degradation. When THC ages and breaks down, it becomes CBN. Old cannabis that's been sitting around too long? Full of CBN.

 

Nobody wanted it. It was the sign your product was past its prime.

 

Then someone actually studied what CBN does instead of assuming it was just broken THC. Turns out, CBN has its own profile. Particularly around sleep and sedation. Not because it's "degraded THC" but because it's its own molecule with its own properties.

 

We'd been throwing away something useful because we thought it was trash.

 

The middle kid was painting in the basement the whole time. We just never went downstairs.

Title

Here's what exciting about this moment:

 

We're finally making distinctions. Understanding that CBG and CBC and CBDV aren't just "other cannabinoids"—they're distinct molecules with distinct properties that we're only beginning to understand.

 

CBG doesn't create intoxication. Neither does CBC or CBDV. They're not THC by another name. They're their own compounds with their own potential.

 

And that potential deserves a clear path forward.

 

Because right now, we're at this fascinating crossroads. Research is accelerating. Cultivation techniques are improving. We can produce these cannabinoids at meaningful concentrations now. The science is getting interesting.

 

But innovation needs clarity. Researchers need to know these molecules have a future. Farmers need to know it's worth cultivating high-CBG hemp. Manufacturers need to know investment in isolation and refinement makes sense. Brands need to know they can formulate with these cannabinoids without everything changing again in six months.

 

Clarity creates possibility.

 

Without it, we stay stuck. With it, we can actually explore what these middle children can do.

Title

Let's Talk Jonas Silk

 

When he developed the polio vaccine in 1955, he didn't patent it. Someone asked him who owned the patent, and he said, "Well, the people, I would say. There is no patent. Could you patent the sun?"

 

Salk understood something important: some discoveries are too valuable to leave unexplored because they're complicated. Minor cannabinoids feel like that. Not because they're some sort of magical elixir, but because they represent genuine biochemical diversity that we're just starting to map.

 

CBG might help with things CBD doesn't touch. CBC might work synergistically with CBD in ways we haven't documented. CBDV might open entirely new formulation possibilities.

 

We don't know yet. That's the point.

 

And that's exciting. That's where innovation lives—in the questions we're just beginning to ask.

 

But innovation needs runway. It needs permission to explore. It needs a clear path that says: "Yes, these molecules are worth studying. Worth cultivating. Worth formulating with."

 

The middle children deserve that chance.

Title

Path Forward

 

At Open Book Extracts, we produce CBG. We're constantly working to refine and enhance our CBN isolation. We're tracking the research on CBC and CBDV.

 

Not because they're trendy. Not because we're chasing the next big thing. Because they're different. Because diversity in chemistry creates possibilities in formulation. Because the more tools we have, the better we can serve people looking for specific outcomes.

 

When we talk about "minor cannabinoids," we should be talking about molecules we're still learning about. Molecules with their own identities. Molecules that deserve study and understanding and thoughtful application.

 

Molecules that need a clear, stable path to reach their potential.

Title

Let's Keep Exploring

 

The middle children of the hemp plant have been waiting patiently for their turn.

  • CBG has been there the whole time—literally, it's the precursor to everything else.
  • CBN has been aging in the shadows, doing its quiet work.
  • CBC has been present in every full-spectrum extract we've ever made, contributing to the entourage effect we talk about but rarely measure.

They weren't minor. They were just overlooked.

 

And now that we're finally paying attention—now that research is revealing what they can do—they need space to develop. Room to be studied. Clarity to be explored.

 

These aren't molecules to lump together with everything else. They're distinct, non-intoxicating compounds with real potential.

 

The middle children deserve their own path forward. They always have.