The CBD market has exploded over the last few years. What started as a few companies manufacturing CBD products has turned into hundreds and possibly even thousands of companies. Currently it’s impossible to know how many or anything else for that matter since the industry operates in a legal grey area where very little reporting exists mainly as a result of banking laws and the DEA. With all that said there are good products and bad out there as the CBD market is literally the old west. To start with look for a website, does the brand have a web presence? If so that’s a good start. Does the website tell you where the company is located? Who the people or partners are? Do they offer product certifications and lab analysis for the products they sell. Anybody can put up a website but not just anybody can make a quality CBD product and herein lies the difference. Product knowledge, That’s it, the more you know the better. CBD is sold in Milligrams or mg, that’s the amount of active ingredient (the CBD) in the product.
For now we will focus on tinctures with a standard bottle size of 30ml or 1 oz. The average internet tincture is 250mg in a 30ml bottle or 8.33 mg per ml. Expressed in a percentace this = .83% CBD or just under 1%, if the bottle had 1000 mg in it then it would have 33.33mg per ml or 3.33% CBD
As you can see the active ingredient is 4 times higher in the 1000mg bottle but the bottle is still the same size or 30ml, 1 oz. This is why the cost of different products may not be apple to apple. It is important to measure the active ingredient (AI) against the volume, in this case 30ml or 1 oz. Once you have established the potency it is even more important to establish the potency of what? A task which could blow your mind if you knew how many options there truly are for CBD and Hemp Oil and how many of those products may be some of the most important products you ever discover.
The consumers biggest dilemma is how to establish what they are getting in their CBD.
Now for the hard part, what’s inside. First off THC free is not necessarily a good thing, in my opinion it’s actually a bad thing as I subscribe to the entourage effect and also believe in full spectrum cannabinoids. THC free usually means NO other cannabinoids, I despise it when I see full spectrum THC free isolate being sold, there are three contradictions in that description! Full Spectrum is what you want if you can get it. The problem is most CBD vendors use the words “Full Spectrum” in their description because it’s the buzzword, not because it’s true. Full Spectrum means it has more than one cannabinoid in the product, not just CBD. THC Free isolate is nothing more than a single molecule of CBD derived from? a total unknown, when in isolate form CBD cannot be traced unless it was sold complete with a chain of custody. So again, full spectrum is an oil from the Hemp plant which contains the variety of cannabinoids the plant expressed. This variety is affected by everything from the seed to the extraction process but it ends at the extraction process where full spectrum either remains or is lost due to the process, the intention or both.
Four things You should take away:
- CBD is sold by the mg AI (milligram of Active Ingredient)
- THC free usually means CBD isolate (not full spectrum)
- Full Spectrum contains more than one Cannabinoid
- CBD Vendors with Cannabinoid profiles are preferred
It is literally the wild wild west out there and it’s important to find a quality CBD and or Hemp Oil supplier for your life and your friends and family. hemp oil and CBD may be one of the most important discoveries of the 21st century and certainly time will tell. In my opinion within 10 years we will have choices of CBD infused products at the grocery store and hemp oil supplements will be a part of a healthy American diet.
As usual we would love to hear your comment and commentaries. There is much more information to share and we will certainly be happy to answer questions to this article.
Thank you…
