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Happy Friday! We know everyone is busy getting ready for the holidays, so we’ll keep this one short and sweet. Last week we talked about the reasons why your CBD might not be working – you can catch up here. Next up, let’s dive into the importance of using quality CBD.
The Big Question
So now the real question is, how do I find high-quality CBD? A common practice is to go with a well-established brand that is distributed widely at your favorite chain supermarket or drugstore. But there are a few problems with this approach.
The first is that well-established brands with a reputation tend to lean towards the expensive side. The second is an issue of true quality. Now, just because a product is widely distributed doesn’t mean that it’s a “good” product. It is helpful to think of CBD like wine: cheap or widely available doesn’t always correlate directly with being a great product. Each batch of CBD is produced from specific hemp plants that will determine the quality of the CBD oil. It is important to know how to tell a good quality product before you try it.
Where to Begin
For any good brand, transparency is an important part of their brand message. They provide the end-user with as much information about their product as they can, from the sources of their raw material to the quality of the hemp used to make the CBD extract. Extraction and particularly filtration methods are usually a closely-guarded secret, as are the details of formulation, but the rest of the overall extraction process should be clear to the end user.
Labs and Tests
This is actually part of the transparency process. If a company cannot provide you with the lab results on the specific batch of finished products that you are purchasing, then it is not a product that is worth buying. The product might have a great taste and be effective – but without the lab test results, there is a strong potential that the product contains pesticides or heavy metals, additionally there is no way of determining the amount of actual CBD in the product. It is a risk that is simply not worth taking.
Knowing Your Stuff
Another step in the right direction is knowing the basic difference between Full-spectrum extract, broad-spectrum extract and isolate. Full-spectrum extract is the full plant extract that includes all of the phytomedicinal elements of the plant.
Full-spectrum extracts are most commonly associated with the “entourage effect” which is the synergistic combination of all of the elements of the plant to help the body.
Broad-spectrum extract starts with the full plant extract, but during the process some elements are stripped out of the extract such as chlorophyll and THC. This is primarily used to create oil with low THC content or the increasingly popular T-free (oil with no THC). There is a limited entourage effect here.
Isolate is a synthetically produced compound of the isolated CBD molecule; no other elements of the plant are found here. There is no entourage effect.
How They Work
Full spectrum is reputed to have the highest medical value in terms of treatment. Isolate is effective as well, but its effectiveness can fall off quite quickly after only a few uses. Broad spectrum is more in-line with the effects of full spectrum just to a lesser degree due to the missing plant elements.
More than a few companies will use a combination of all three. When you start to reach CBD contents that are above 3000mg in a 30ml bottle, you can be guaranteed that the original full or broad-spectrum extract will have isolate in it – which is less than ideal, but still effective.
Conclusion
Hopefully these tips will help you in your quest for quality CBD. Alternatively, you can just pop into our shop to check out our holiday deals. Our products are made with high-quality, California-grown, full-spectrum hemp extract. All of our lab test results are online and available for viewing on every finished product that we sell, and we are deeply committed to providing a quality product for positive results.