What to Look For When You Buy CBD Oil

When people want to buy CBD oil, oftentimes, they look at the price, then just sort of buy with their gut without really knowing how to compare products. Hopefully, this information will help.

Obviously, looking at price is important to all of us. But, before you simply look at price, you should decide what factors are important, then look at only the products which offer those factors. Then, you can and should consider price. Not all CBD oils are the same.

The Foundation

Here’s a little background info: most CBD Oil products are made by adding CBD Hemp Extract into the various products to create them. For instance, to make a vape oil, the maker adds the CBD rich extract (at whatever concentration they desire the finished product to be) into a vape oil base. Then, they add in any flavoring. That creates the actual product. By understanding this, it becomes apparent then that its important to look at the variations of the extract before deciding which product to buy.

Raw, Decarbed, Filtered

The first point I would make is that each company or brand typically uses one type of extract out of several different types. There is the Raw version, which leaves the hemp extract fully intact. It is not heat treated (decarboxylation), and is typically a very dark looking extract that generally tastes very “hempy”, or naturally plant flavored. Some people like this because not only does it tend to offer CBD, it generally has a higher concentration of other cannabinoids like CBDA, CBG, CBN, etc. The rest of the compounds like enzymes and flavonoids are also kept wholesome to provide additional benefits. These other cannabinoids also offer some well-being effects. This type of extract is generally referred to as a “green label” product and is typically quite thick and gooey.

The next type is the same as the raw oil, except that it is heated to ‘activate’, or decarb, the CBDa into CBD. This means that heat is applied to separate the carboxyl molecular group from the acidic form of CBD, called CBDa. Each compound has it’s own benefits, with some overlap. These are often represented as a ‘blue’ oil, though it will depend on the brand.

The third type of CBD Hemp Extract you may come across when you go to buy is one that has had most of the plant material removed. This generally offers an extract that has a higher concentration of CBD, which many people like. But, it also generally means it contains less of other plant compounds, like chlorophyll and fatty acids. This extract is typically a “gold label” product and generally costs a little more because of the higher CBD content as well as the extra processing work that needs to be performed. Also, it is generally thinner, less viscous, than the extract mentioned above, which can be easier to work with or can be messier depending on how you’re going to use it.

A New CBD

The latest version of CBD to hit the markets is called anyhdrous cannabidiol. It is also known as Isolate, or CBD Crystals. This variety has gone through a few extra steps to purify the extract to 99+% purity. Meaning it is literally pure CBD! This has been wildly popular for those who are looking only for CBD in their product.

Isolate or Full Spectrum?

What does all this mean when you go to buy CBD oil? When you read the description of the product, many times you can find out if it is made from an extract using more of the other cannabinoids or not. Oftentimes, when a product mentions it is a “full spectrum” or “broad spectrum” cannabinoid, it means that it has a good mix of all the cannabinoids, not just CBD, which many people find to provide more benefits than just taking CBD.

If a product doesn’t mention whether it is full spectrum, or doesn’t talk much about the other cannabinoids, it probably doesn’t have much of them and is typically made with a focus on CBD alone. These are generally made with pure CBD isolate. This is not necessarily a bad thing, it only means it is different. However, we are all different. I cannot emphasize this enough. Some of our customers are in a professional sport or another strict employment position, and having a product that is THC free is very important for them.

Additional Considerations

So, we’ve talked a lot about the hemp CBD extract. Some other easier points to discuss:
A. CBD from Hemp loses its “punch” over time and as its exposed to heat and light. Some of the cheaper products, while offering the same amount of CBD, may be made using older extract that was purchased by the manufacturer at a discount.
B. A lot of emphasis should be placed on how many milligrams of CBD is in a product. This is easy when looking at some products, like CBD Oil Drops, for instance. They usually say how many milligrams are in the bottle. But, when looking at hemp extract, it is usually displaying a percentage. And, knowing that a gram is 1000 grams, if an extract says it is say 22%, then, its easy to calculate that it has 220mg of CBD in that 1000mg (1gram) of extract. You’re essentially buying a certain number of milligrams of CBD. One should know how much is in the container so you can best compare one product to the other.

Time To Decide

In summary, when you go to buy cbd oil, it is my advice to first decide how important full spectrum is to you. Then, seek out which type of product you think you would prefer to use: capsules, drops, pure extract, etc. When looking at whatever type of product you desire, find the ones which have either the full spectrum cannbinoid discussed or find the ones without that description if you desire. Look at only those products that are of interest. From there, you can divide the total price of the product by the number of milligrams in it to find the “price per milligram”. This then helps you determine which is the best price. As always, you will want to use your intuition a little to decide which product is best for you. It might be the one that is a little higher priced, if much of the product description resonates with you.

We hope this information is helpful in deciding which CBD Oil to buy when you go to do so.