Deciding which CBD company to purchase from can be a pretty involved process if you are starting with little to no information. Some of us have a hard time deciding which restaurant to go with for our next meal, so it’s only understandable that CBD might be a lot harder. It honestly doesn’t have to be though, especially if you know what steps to take and what to look for in a company. You can make sure to keep up with sites such as CBD Snapshot, deemed the online authority on anything and everything CBD. They take the time to compile a list of the best CBD companies every quarter. CBDfx, a CBD Power 100 company ranked within the top 10 of all 4 categories, and even landed the number 1 spot in 2 categories! These are the types of companies you should try to align yourself with because their products are sure to hit the mark. There are a few other things to keep in mind that we’ll discuss, and it’s destined to lead you to quality companies creating the best products on the market.
Reviews
One of our favorite ways to research a product is to see what people are saying about it. You should look to see what the ratio looks like–positives to negatives of the reviews. You might also want to take note of the “negatives” and look further into them to see if there is any truth to it.
Certificate of Analysis
With so many companies out there popping up every day it’s no wonder it’s becoming harder and harder for consumers to separate the good from the bad. It can prove to be extremely dangerous for your health if you neglect doing your homework with compantes. This is especially true if you are looking to purchase a vape pen because certain additives such as vitamin e acetate have been linked to numerous hospitalizations, as wells as deaths. You should seek a company that provides a certificate of analysis (COA), also known as third party lab testing for each product manufacture. It’s especially important to make sure it is a third party running the lab reports so they are not skewed or biased, because the company making the products should not also be running the labs for those products. This is an obvious conflict of interest. Another reason to check the COA is because just last year an alarming rate of CBD products tested positive for heavy metals, leads, mold, and other toxic impurities.
Harmful Ingredients
Part of the reason people often ask how to locate reputable CBD companies is because they want to make sure they are avoiding harmful filler ingredients. Some companies have been caught using fillers such as a compound by the name of 5F-ABD, which can cause dizziness, irritability, headaches and nausea. Another company was caught using DXM, an active ingredient in cough syrup and can be dangerous in larger quantities. One of the most frightening filler ingredients is vitamin e acetate. This is typically used as a cheap CBD vape pen filler oil and has been linked to numerous illnesses and even deaths, according to the CDC. Diacetyl is another vape pen ingredient to setter clear of due to its harmful interactions with the human body.
You should also be aware that some low end companies might try to trick consumers by using hemp seed oil. They come from two different parts of the plant and have different uses. Hemp seed oil does not possess the same medicinal properties that CBD exhibits because CBD is created by using the whole plant, getting all of those cannabinoids in the process.
Co2 Extraction
A company that utilizes CO2 extraction is typically a good company that cares about their customers, because other companies utilize solvents in their extraction process that consist of butane and hexane. So, the customer ends ups inhaling a number of deadly chemicals, and most of the time they have no idea because they didn’t even think about checking for the lab results. Alternatively, the CO2 process utilizes pressurized carbon dioxide as an extraction method to extract all the good stuff from the plant—terpenes, cannabinoids, and maybe more depending on the company.
Variations Of CBD Oil
When you’re scanning through different companies you might notice that some companies have products that utilize different types of CBD oil. You might find a combination of full spectrum, broad spectrum, or CBD isolate products—but what if you only see one kind? Is this a red flag?
This isn’t necessarily a bad thing but some companies understand that different products might perform better with different CBD oils. For example, most tinctures are created with a full spectrum CBD oil. This oil is created in a process where the whole plant is basically crushed down into an oil containing the “full spectrum” of the plant’s benefits. Hemp derived CBD has less than 0.3% THC, but that is enough to create the “entourage effect”. This effect can be described as the process of CBD and THC working in synergy to create even more of a therapeutic effect for the consumer.
Alternatively, broad spectrum CBD is created through the same process, but all trace amounts of THC are removed from the oil, hence, no “entourage effect”. There are still a good number of therapeutic compounds left, but the effects won’t be as intense as that of a full spectrum CBD. This is an acceptable trade off for some because they don’t want to worry about failing a drug test, or maybe their tolerance is very low and broad spectrum works just fine.
Hemp Source
CBD companies have started to explore outsourcing their CBD hemp farms overseas. This is not surprising though, is it? When companies, or markets like CBD grow at such a rapid pace corners will be cut, especially if they save profit margins. There are still some great companies domestically growing 100% organic hemp right here in the United States, and there was a massive increase of growth with the passing of the Farm Bill of 2018.
Conclusion
As you can see, there are numerous factors to take into consideration when researching CBD companies, because unfortunately, they are not created with the same moral standards in place. Many turn to CBD for its medicinal value, so it’s disturbing to think some companies are taking advantage of consumers looking for solutions. But don’t worry, just follow these steps above and you’ll definitely be on the right path to finding a reputable company producing quality products.
