When shopping for Cannabidiol (CBD) products online and researching for the best CBD oil or CBD company, it’s crucial to purchase from a reputable company.
Buying from a reputable company has many advantages, especially when it comes to quality and safety. Especially vertically integrated companies that keep proper oversight of each process from seed to extract.
Being vertically integrated, from seed to extract, doesn’t necessarily mean that their products will be outstanding. Still, if they genuinely care about quality and have a strong passion as we do, then they’ll make sure each part of the process is handled with the utmost care.
Just because the CBD is extracted from CO2, it’s CBD Isolate, which is “99% pure”, or even just because it’s “CBD,” does not mean that it’s going to be as effective as other products out there.
CBD oil is not a simple product like Vitamin C or other vitamins and supplements. Growing hemp, drying & curing the plants, extracting, and purifying the extract is a very complicated process.
It may sound or seem easy how this process works, which it can be; however, it takes a lot of time to learn. Constant extraction runs, & of course, a lot of money to master this craft. All this produces an extract with a spectrum of cannabinoids, terpenes, and flavonoids while eliminating all impurities and excess compounds that degrade the quality.
What’s the Best CBD Oil? How Can You Tell if it’s the Right CBD Product?
The key is to buy CBD products that contain a variety of minor cannabinoids called “phytocannabinoids,” terpenes, and flavonoids. Why is this so important?
Entourage Effect is referred to when multiple compounds other than just CBD or THC work synergically together to enhance CBD or THC’s effectiveness.
Research goes back to 1998 when Professor Raphael Mechoulam and Shimon Ben-Shabat noticed that THC and CBD increased the effects when minor cannabinoids and terpenes were present and another study later in 2001.
There are over 80 minor cannabinoids and over 200 terpenes found in cannabis that each has its unique trait and holds medicinal properties.
Buy Full Spectrum or Broad Spectrum CBD Oil
Full Spectrum and Broad Spectrum products contain other essential and vital minor cannabinoids, terpenes, and flavonoids rather than just CBD. However, as we said initially, it also matters how well the company extracted and purified their extract.
There are Full Spectrum or Broad Spectrum CBD products out there that contain a variety of minor cannabinoids, however, they have absolutely no terpenes or flavonoids. A product marketed as “Full Spectrum” or “Broad Spectrum” that contains very little or no terpenes is something that we notice in the industry, and it’s in the hand of the consumer to look into the lab reports to verify.
Factors that Play A Role in the End Quality
There’s a lot of variables that can alter the quality and outcome of the extract. Here is a list of the whole process, which we’ll go in-depth in another blog post:
The soil health and surrounding land the plants were grown in.
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- Hemp acts as phytoremediation, so it naturally absorbs contaminants in both the ground and air.
- The soil quality can also alter how the plant absorbs nutrients and the health of its growth.
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How well the plants were dried and cured.
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- The goal is to retain as many cannabinoids and terpenes as possible while removing excess moisture.
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What extraction method and what parameters did they use?
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- CO2, Ethanol, Butane, etc.
- How much heat and pressure were used in the process?
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During purification, were they able to retain minor cannabinoids, terpenes, & flavonoids?
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- During purification to distill the oil to high purity, heat is exposed at levels that burn off the sensitive compounds such as terpenes and flavonoids. These terpenes and flavonoids play a significant role in achieving the Entourage Effect.
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Good Extraction & Purification = Higher minor cannabinoid and terpene profile with the least impurities and excess & unnecessary compounds.
Bad Extraction & Purification = Little to barely any minor cannabinoids and terpene profile and can also have excess unnecessary compounds.
Excess & Unnecessary Compounds:
Gums: saccharides, starches, carbohydrates, etc.
Lipids: fats, fatty acids, phospholipids, waxes, etc.
Water-soluble: H20, chlorophyll, gums, polyphenols, pigments, anthocyanins, carotenoids, etc.
Heavy Metals: arsenic, nickel, lead, mercury, iron, copper, zinc, cadmium, etc.
Pesticides: myclobutanil, imidacloprid, abamectin, etoxazole, spiromesifen, etc.
Why is it Important to Purchase Quality CBD Products?
The simple answer is that a quality CBD product will be more effective and safe for you to consume. In an industry like the CBD industry, where things are constantly changing, and there is no real oversight, unsafe products end up in people’s hands.
Low-quality extracts can cause CBD oil to expire, which can cause adverse reactions and side effects. Keep in mind that a quality CBD extract should last anywhere from 12 to 18 months before going bad.
If you notice the product changing form, color, or even an unpleasant smell or test, then you should stop using the product right away.
Summary of Finding the Best CBD Oil
The best CBD oil is the one that contains a wide range of cannabinoids, terpenes, & flavonoids.
The reason for that is because studies have shown that cannabinoids are more effective when these other compounds are intact.
The best analogy for this is, imagine a basketball team with five players working together to defend, shoot, pass, and steal against another time with just one player doing all the work. The team with five players would win, obviously.
Remember that just because you see a lab report showing a wide variety of cannabinoids and terpenes does not guarantee that it matches another company with a little less of that spectrum.
The reason for that is because when there are unnecessary compounds such as fats, waxes, or chlorophyll, to name a few, it reduces the potency.
Learn About the Company’s Standards, Growing Process, Extraction Process, etc.
- What guarantees do they have?
- Do they offer a 30 Day Money Back Satisfaction Guarantee as we do?
- Do they have a Quality page specifically to outline what measures they take and what they do?
Read their Third-Party Lab Reports
It’s not difficult to learn if you read through our lab report blog post explaining each section in simple and easy to understand terms.
Look for Transparency
The more honest they are, the more information they provide about their company, their extraction method, quality & safety standards, lab reports, and they stand behind the quality of their products are ways to tell companies apart.
