All CBD Products Are Not Created Equal

As CBD grows in popularity it can be found in a wider range of products than ever before. That includes topicals, sublingual tinctures, serums, gummies, and infused in a variety of health and wellness products. The range of products CBD is infused within is almost as wide as the pricing for these products. But why? What makes the cost of one CBD product different than another? Are more expensive products better? And can affordable products provide the same benefits as their more expensive counterparts?

Read this short article to learn more about how to tell the difference between quality CBD and expensive CBD.

What Goes Into The Cost Of CBD?

Many products offer obvious reasons for price discrepencies. Consumers expect to pay more for organic, handmade or artisan, craft, and small batch goods. However, when it comes to CBD the pricing may not be that obvious. Afterall, CBD is CBD, right? Truthfully, nothing could be further from the truth. The components of what causes CBD prices to vary as extensive. Here are some things to consider when it comes to purchasing any CBD product and how to be a savvy consumer of this nuance compound.

Type of Cannabinoid

We mention CBD extensively, but there are many cannabinoids found in a Hemp or Cannabis plant. They include the psychoactive compound, THC, and a variety of non-psychoactive compounds such as CBD and CBG. Since CBD strains are relatively simple to grow, harvest, and manufacture into products, they are more commonly found than their more potent and effective cannabinoid counterparts. To give an example that many consumers understand it’s like the different in purity of gasoline. Octane levels vary at the pump, but unless your engine requires the higher grade then a lower octane will suffice. However, using a higher grade octane makes your engine run more efficiently and can increase your gas mileage. It’s similar for cannabinoids. Most people will find a benefit from CBD, but CBG offers a stronger benefit that offers

Quality

The cost of the quality of carrier oils and accompanying ingredients can play a big factor in the overall cost to create a CBD or CBG product. Higher quality oils will generally come with a higher price tag, but the extra cost can be well worth it. Better quality ingredients tend to have a better overall taste and smell, a longer shelf life, and in general are more consistent than products made with lesser quality ingredients. Carrier oils and accompanying ingredients can provide you with a better absorption rate, enhancing the benefits of the CBD or CBG themselves. Brands like Natural Blüm that insist on the highest quality ingredients outperform their lesser quality competition, even at the same potencies.

Extraction Method

Often overlooked, the extraction method used to create your CBD or CBG product can create drastically different results, and can even create different impacts on your health. It is always important to ask your CBD purveyor how they extracted the CBD or CBG to understand the product you are consuming or applying. Whether you are in the market for edibles, oils, or topicals, the CBD and CBG oil and biproducts are ingested into your system. As CBD and CBG grow in popularity and are included in everyday goods, this understanding of the extraction process becomes more important, weighing on the bottom line costs.

CO2 Extraction

There are a variety of different ways to extract cannabinoids from hemp plants. Each of them offer a different level of purity and cost associated. The gold standard in terms of safety and purity is the CO2 extraction. During this CBD extraction method pressurized CO2 pulls the CBD and CBG, along with other phytocannabinoids from the cannabis plant into a series of chambers leaving cannabinoids isolated from CO2. This process is more intense, cleaner, and more costly than other methods, but the resulting CBD and CBG is also more pure than other extraction methods. Further refining CBD down to an even purer form creating CBD distillate, is when high heat is applied to the raw extracted oil, this further separates the compounds and refines the extract through a distillate chamber. This results in the purest and most potent form of CBD or CBG of any extraction process. At Natural Blüm we only use the isolate and distillate methods to ensure that we provide the purest and most concentrated forms of CBD and CBG to our loyal customers.

Olive Oil Extraction

Olive oil extraction is one of the oldest methods of extracting cannabinoids, and is widely used by at-home extractions. It is relatively safe, simple and doesn’t cost as much as CO2 extraction. Heating the hemp plant and olive oil together results in an extract that is fairly simple to cook with and consume. The biggest drawback to this method is that it is often a low concentration and is highly perishable. With a short shelf life and relatively low concentration it tends to cut into the bottom line, artificially raising the prices of what would otherwise be a cost-effective extraction method.

Solvent Extraction

Solvent extractions are the least expensive option, and therefore are the most common as well in commercial CBD and CBG. It is fast and easy, but is the more dangerous due to the highly flammable contents of the solvent liquids used. During a solvent extraction a chemical based liquid is combined with hemp, which dissolves not only the waxes in the plant but also the chlorophyll, which can result in a bitter and offensive tasting end product. While the solvent is evaporated, it has the potential to be toxic if the solvents aren’t completely eliminated during the evaporation step. In fact, some studies have found traces of naphtha hydrocarbons or petroleum residue in CBD products where solvents have been used for extractions.

As you can see there are pros and cons to each extraction method, but in terms of purity, quality, and concentration, CO2 isolate and distillate is far superior and the only ones we recommend to ingest.