As CBD continues to increase in popularity, it becomes ever more important to make sure the CBD you use is high-quality and comes from a reliable source. With it being available pretty much everywhere these days, it can be hard to tell the good from the bad. We take a look at exactly what makes for a good and reliable source of CBD oil.
Here are 8 signs of a high-quality CBD oil:
1. Extracted using CO₂ or alcohol
The best CBD oils are extracted using safe solvents like supercritical CO₂. It ensures a safe extract is produced free of any additives or additional chemicals — which is often the case with other extraction methods.
Avoid CBD oils made using chemicals like propane, butane, pentane, or hexane. They can leave behind dangerous contaminants.
2. Grown in areas that require soil testing
Hemp is a “hyperaccumulator” plant. That fancy word simply means hemp readily absorbs everything from the soil it grows in. What it absorbs can be good like vitamins and minerals, or bad like lead, petroleum, or toxic chemicals.
The safest CBD oil will be grown in an area where the government requires farmers to be certified and have their fields frequently tested for toxic substances. The oil itself should be tested by an ISO/IEC 17025:2017 accredited lab. They’ll make sure it doesn’t contain pesticides, heavy metals, bacteria, fungus, solvent residue, or any other foreign matter.
3. The price isn’t too good to be true
High-quality CBD oils aren’t cheap to make, so if the price is too low, that’s a good sign that it was made from inferior or contaminated raw materials, sub-standard solvents, or it doesn’t contain very much, if any, actual CBD.
You don’t have to buy the most expensive product on the market to be safe. Look for reasonable prices and good customer reviews.
4. The product label includes the amount of CBD
Good CBD oil made by a reputable company will tell you how much CBD you’re getting right on the label. Look for either the concentration or the total number of milligrams in the bottle. Higher numbers mean a more potent product. To be considered effective, the bottle should contain 250–1000mg per 30ml bottle. Anything less and you’re wasting your money.
5. Transparent CBD oil test results
Before buying CBD oil, check to see if the company has its products verifiably tested. A company you can trust will make the results public. The information might be on the bottle, the box it came in, on an insert, or published on the website. If you can’t find it there, then it is time to start asking questions. Most companies with consistently good results are so proud of them that they make the reports easy to find.
Test reports that you can view and verify are important because they will state the levels of both CBD and THC, plus check for any harmful additives. If you can’t find this information, be very wary.
6. Made from “whole plant” extracts, not CBD isolates
CBD oils made from whole plant extracts, also called full spectrum oils, are generally considered to be of higher quality than those made from CBD isolates. The idea of an isolate sounds good; it’s pure CBD, but it’s often made from cheap materials and lacks the other cannabinoids, flavonoids, and terpenes that work in partnership with CBD to make full spectrum oils more effective.
7. Contains under 0.03% THC
CBD oils made from hemp may contain trace amounts of THC—usually 0.03% or less—but it’s not nearly enough to get you high. However, sub-standard processing can boost the levels of THC to a percentage that can create a psychoactive effect that can be uncomfortable for some. Not only is this a sign of a low-quality product, it could even make the CBD oil illegal where you live. Check the labels and lab reports for exact numbers before you choose an oil.
8. No outrageous medical claims are made
Research, as well as personal accounts, make it clear that CBD is a remarkable chemical, but it’s not approved as a medical treatment by any government agency. That means it falls into the same category as vitamins and other supplements, and no company can legally claim that it treats or cures any medical condition. If you’re looking at a CBD oil that makes a claim like that, steer clear. It’s probably snake oil.