How Is CBD Made and What Makes a Quality Product?

CBD is all the rage, but not all products are created equal. Many retailers produce CBD products that are of poor quality, containing harmful ingredients and pesticides — and sometimes lie about the amount of CBD actually inside the product. This is why it’s important to buy the best CBD oil products from a company like CBD Hemporium. We use only the highest quality hemp-derived CBD from organic hemp farms in Colorado and lab test each product to make sure they are free from harmful ingredients.

Where Does CBD Come From?

Cannabidiol — or CBD — is a naturally occurring chemical compound found in the cannabis sativa plant. It’s extracted or derived from either variety of sativa — hemp or marijuana. The CBD products that are legal across the UK are hemp-derived and contain less than .2% THC  (Tetrahydrocannabinol) by law. While hemp is naturally higher in CBD than THC, breeders can manipulate the plant to have virtually no THC. On the other hand, marijuana for recreational purposes is usually bred to be high in THC and low in CBD, because its consumers want to use it to get high. With hemp-derived CBD products, there is no way to get high or have the same side effects as marijuana because there’s very little THC in the product.

It’s worth mentioning that there are medicinal products that are marijuana-derived that have a good amount of CBD. There is some evidence that this type of product has higher therapeutic value — but that they come with far more side effects because of the high THC levels. These types of products are only available with a prescription in the UK. More scientific research and studies on humans have been done with marijuana than with hemp-derived CBD, and evidence shows they work more efficiently together to treat certain conditions.

Why Source Material Matters

To start let’s consider the first and most important constituent — what is the source material used to manufacture our products? Our CBD comes from whole plant extractions from organically grown hemp. This means that the entire plant is used in the process. The vast majority of CBD products available for purchase in the UK are sourced from hemp that is grown abroad, primarily from EU approved hemp seed stock, but also from American hemp cultivars (strains). Through our companies intensive R&D phase of sampling and testing many CBD oil products, we chose CBD derived from American hemp as the base material for all our products.

Equilibrium CBD products are free from genetically modified organisms (GMOs), pesticides or herbicides. We also batch test the distillate used to manufacture our oils to ensure they are free from contaminants such as heavy metals and pesticides. We then go a step further by testing the terpene profile. We do this so we can ensure the quality, safety and efficacy of all of our products for our customers. Do you know how safe your CBD products are in this regard? These are very important considerations when buying a product you are taking for its wellness properties because contaminants that accumulated in plant tissues from surrounding soil (or the use of pesticides and herbicides) will only be concentrated further as you move toward extraction of the CBD.

How Is CBD Made?

There are many ways to extract CBD from hemp. We use the CO2 extraction method, which uses a combination of pressurised carbon dioxide and temperature to extract CBD from the source material. This method is considered the “gold standard” way to extract CBD because it helps preserve more of the compound.

CO2 extraction methods are classified into two categories — supercritical and subcritical extraction. At CBD Hemporium, all our products have been extracted via supercritical CO2 process. In simple terms, CO2 cannabis extraction uses pressurised carbon dioxide (CO2) to pull CBD (and other phytochemicals) from the plant. Supercritical extraction has many benefits including being safe, effective and producing a pure extract.

Once our source material has been decarboxylated and undergone CO2 extraction, we are left with a crude extract, which can then be further refined to remove unwanted impurities to improve the efficacy of our products. The extract goes through many filtering processes and distillation before it’s made into the final product. It’s a long, lengthy process that requires expensive equipment — so this whole process is reflected in the price of the product.

It’s important to note that after obtaining a solvent-free oil through a CO2 extraction and a winterisation and distillation refinement, most of the terpene properties are lost. That is why in all our products, the beneficial terpenes are re-introduced to create a true full spectrum extract. The CBD distillate used to manufacture our products has been homogenised to ensure complete uniformity of the oil for cannabinoid and terpene potency in solutions. This is important when reintroducing terpenes into the distillate.

Unfortunately, as yet, there are no set standards in the fledgeling  CBD industry. However, at CBD Hemporium, we see it as our duty to produce a quality product and we take safety standards seriously. To our knowledge, we are one of only a few companies whose products have been manufactured from a CBD distillate following all these steps.

Looking to start your CBD journey? At CBD Hemporium, you’ll find the highest quality, organic and lab-tested CBD oil products, along with the best customer service. Browse our products today.