CBD Oil

Ultimate CBD Oil Buying Guide

What Is CBD?

CBD is the universal acronym for Cannabidiol, a popular hemp cannabinoid sold country-wide in tinctures, edibles, topicals, and vapes, and of course lube!

Hemp contains over one hundred cannabinoids, which are compounds that interact with our bodies in a myriad of ways. Today, researchers have begun to study CBD, as well as other cannabinoids, to learn more about their effects, and so far the studies are encouraging.

Users that take CBD report feeling calm, uplifted, relaxed, focused, balanced and most importantly, more in tune with themselves.

How Does CBD Oil Work?

The fact that you feel anything at all from CBD is because you have an Endocannabinoid System, or ECS. Every mammal, from a kangaroo to a chimpanzee has an ECS. Scientists first discovered the ECS when examining how THC affects humans, way back in the 1970s. Endo means within, so we define the ECS as the cannabinoid system within our bodies.

Every cannabinoid in the hemp plant affects us in some way. But we are years, if not decades, away from understanding the complex relationship our bodies share with hemp. The latest research has traced CBD’s effects to two receptors in the ECS, known as CB1 and CB2. Scientists note that CBD interacts with these receptors less intensely than THC, which is why you do not feel high after consuming CBD.

How to Take CBD Oil?

Consuming this hemp compound is sort of like exploring a new type of food or supplement. Your experiences and effects will be unique to you. Many of them won’t be entirely conscious until you take CBD for a few weeks or a month. To guide you through the experience, here are a few tips:

Start low and go slow: Begin with a low dose, typically around 5mg to 10mg, and wait at least two hours before taking more CBD.

Take your first dose before bed: An hour before sleep is the ideal beginner’s dose. This allows the CBD to work through your body as you sleep. Many users believe CBD helps them sleep longer and deeper.

Stick to a routine: A dosing schedule can boost the effectiveness of your dose. For example, taking CBD at the same time every morning can help with workplace anxiety.

If oils are unsatisfactory, try edibles or vapes: There are multiple types of CBD, and all of them can help you in a specific way. Edibles last one to three hours longer than tinctures. Vapes kick in within minutes, which makes them perfect for fast-acting relaxation.

CBD Oil FAQs

CBD Oil - Everything else you need to know

Real cannabidiol oil begins with a quality extract. Farms in Kentucky, Oregon, Colorado, and Washington grow hemp for the specific purpose of making CBD oil. Unlike hemp crops for seeds or fiber, extract crops consist of female-only plants. They are grown until peak fertility when dewy resin peppers their flowers and leaves. Not a single ounce of male pollen must reach these females, or they’ll stop producing CBD-rich resin and the crop will be worth a fraction of the price.

After harvest, farmers allow the plants to dry in a clean, air-controlled environment. Sweating out the moisture staves off mold and contaminants during the baling and shipping procedures. While the larger outfits have on-site extracting machines, most send their bulk biomass out to a third-party extraction site.

Professional CBD extractors mulch the dried stems and flowers, then separate the gamut of compounds — waxes, proteins, fats, and lipids — from the cannabinoids. There are many safe ways to process hemp for CBD on an industrial level. Alcohol solvents, steam distillation, and even large olive oil presses can pull CBD from the biomass.

The final product is a mostly tasteless extract that consists of either pure CBD or a combination of CBD and other cannabinoids. It can be a crystalized powder or a liquid. Most brands purchase their raw CBD extract from an extraction company. Then they add the CBD to carrier oil. The most common carrier oil is MCT coconut oil because it has no taste and has a long shelf-life.

As you see, CBD oil is, therefore, more accurately described as a CBD extract mixed with a carrier oil. This is one of the key ways to distinguish CBD oil from hemp oil; the latter is the pressed oil from hemp seeds. You can buy CBD oil that’s flavorless or infused with fruit and herbal essences. Brands often use the same CBD extract in their edibles, topicals, and vapes.

CBD Types and Certificate of Analysis

Most CBD oils contain a very basic set of ingredients. Aside from the MCT coconut carrier oil and CBD extract, you shouldn’t find much else. Maybe a natural flavoring or some terpene infusion. If you see preservatives or ingredients with long polysyllabic names, you should probably avoid buying the bottle.

That being said, many customers don’t know that there are three types of CBD extract. Below, we’ll quickly go over each one so you know what to expect and which one is right for you.

Full-Spectrum CBD

Remember, CBD is just one of one hundred or more cannabinoids inside the help plant. With modern extraction methods, laboratories can separate these cannabinoids and then combine them back together. When a CBD oil contains other cannabinoids, including a legal dose of THC, it is known as full-spectrum. Some researchers believe hemp cannabinoids work together better than they do on their own, and this amplification is known as the entourage effect. Consumers buy this CBD type when they want the strongest and most fully-featured experience.

CBD Isolate

As the name suggests, CBD isolate oils contain only cannabidiol. You won’t find any terpenes, secondary cannabinoids, and no THC. This is considered to be the most refined version you can buy. All the purported sleep-enhancing and pain-relieving properties are here, and the price is usually lower than full-spectrum. Just know that you won’t get to feel the potential enhancements offered by the entourage effect.

Broad-Spectrum CBD

Easily the most popular extract, broad-spectrum CBD offers a little of both worlds. You won’t find any THC here, so the fears of failing a drug test can be left on the curb. Broad-spectrum does, however, contain the terpenes and secondary cannabinoids known to enhance the CBD experience via the entourage effect. Try this version if you want a well-rounded tincture that’s ideal in any situation.

Certificate of Analysis

Without FDA approval, the CBD market teems with poor quality oils and edibles. To stand out of the pack, 5-star brands send their products to a third-party lab for testing. By “third-party” we mean the lab and its employees do not work for the CBD company. These labs test a variety of products, and they swear by their non-biased results.

Some of the things you will find in a typical CoA are:

1. Signature of lab technician and address of the facility
2. Amount of CBD in the bottle in milligrams
3. Amount of other cannabinoids and terpenes
4. Any trace contaminants, such as metals and pesticides
5. Confirmation that the bottle has .3% THC or less

The contaminants and solvent columns of the report should be zero. The amount of CBD in the bottle should match or closely match the advertised content. When it comes to secondary cannabinoids and terpenes, the amounts will vary because each hemp strain has a different compound profile.

The Key CBD Terms You Need to Know

Sublingual, psychotropic, tetrahydrocannabinol — on any given CBD oil website, you’ll run into a gamut of terms that may make your eyes cross. Below, we offer you a quick guide to the most common CBD terms. With this list, you’ll be more than comfortable navigating any CBD website you find.

• Cannabinoid: A native chemical compound found in many plants, such as cocoa, black pepper, and hemp. These compounds react in strong and weak ways to the endocannabinoid system.
• Endocannabinoid System (ECS): A complex series of receptors found throughout the mammalian body. Scientists have discovered only a few of these receptors, namely CB1 and CB2. They have been found in our skin, digestive organs, and brain.
• Cannabidiol: The scientific name for CBD, a non-intoxicating cannabinoid found in hemp and cannabis plants.
• Sublingual: A ancient method of medicinal dosing. It means to place a liquid under your tongue and to hold it there for thirty seconds to one minute. The glands under the tongue transport the vitamins or chemicals in the liquid to your bloodstream.
• Tincture: An authentic tincture is made from an alcohol extraction. In the CBD space, a tincture is simply a synonym for oil.
• Concentrate: The term for a CBD extract before it’s mixed with a carrier oil.
• Concentration: The amount of CBD within a bottle of CBD oil or inside a CBD gummy or vape.
• Extraction: A multi-step process whereby CBD and other cannabinoids and terpenes are removed from the hemp plant.
• Tetrahydrocannabinol: The scientific term for THC. The federal government differentiates hemp and cannabis by the THC levels. If the plant has .3% THC, it is hemp; any more and the plant is cannabis. THC is a psychotropic or psychoactive cannabinoid and is a controlled substance.

The Key to Buying CBD Oil

You’ll be surprised to know that the best brands are not the most expensive. When searching for your CBD oil, choose the brand that offers the most transparency. The finer details about their CBD oil should be present on their product pages or explained in their blog. The customer service contact information should be easy to find, and they should respond to your queries within 24 hours. But most of all, they should have a good reputation online and lots of quality customer reviews.

Where to buy CBD Oil

With one quick Internet search, you can find CBD oil to buy in stores near you or online shops that ship right to your door. Knowing that you have so many options, how do you know which one is the best for you?

Below, we rank where you can buy CBD oil from the best to the worst.

• Online: For the most control over your decision and the best quality products, online stores are easily number one. The competition online is fierce. Brands are constantly discovering innovations that lower their prices while increasing the quality. With the information we’ve given you in this ultimate guide, you can easily find the best CBD brand online.
• Dispensary: Because cannabis dispensaries deal with companies in the industry, they are well suited to choose good CBD brands. If you cannot buy CBD online, a reputable local dispensary should have a few CBD oils for you to choose from. We still recommend that you research their products before choosing, as they may be influences by incentives to pick certain products over others.
• Pharmacies: National pharmacies, such as Walgreen and CVS, have begun selling CBD oil in some of their stores. The products tend to be overpriced, however, and they rarely are of the same high standards as the 5-star online brands. In a pinch, you can find a CBD oil or edible to hold you over until you can buy it online. 
• Amazon and Walmart: The worst place to buy CBD oil is Walmart or Amazon. That’s because they don’t sell authentic CBD oil. The brands they stock sell hempseed oil. Until CBD has FDA approval, you won’t find real cannabidiol oil in the big box stores.

As with any new compound on the market, consumers need to know the risks. Thankfully, there aren’t a whole slew of them, but you should know why CBD may not work for you.

When buying CBD Oil for sale take into consideration:

Dosage Woes

Your weight, metabolism, activity level, and eating habits all play a vital part in your dosage. Many customers try CBD oil once and give up. The reality is that you must try CBD for a few weeks before finding the right dosage amount and timing. Check our dosage calculator section to better understand how much CBD to take and when to take it.

Poor-Quality Brand

The correct dosage won’t help if you’ve purchased a from a lackluster brand. There are all sorts of ways brands skimp out on your product. They can put less CBD into their bottles than advertised. Or get their extract from a facility that uses cheap extraction methods. When it comes to CBD, Amazon and Walmart are not the best options. We recommend buying from top-rated brands, such as Balance CBD.

Check the Consumer Reviews

When in doubt, read over the reviews section of the brand in question. If there are dozens of one and two-star reviews, you should check out another company. Also, read over the reviews and make sure they all sound like they’re written by real people. Some brands use bots to stuff their review section with misleading information.

Look for Third-Party Testing or CoA

Once you have a brand you like, check for third-party lab tests or CoAs. The product pages should have links to the files. If not, you can contact their customer service representatives and ask. While you’re there, you might as well ask where they source their CBD extract and how often they get it tested. If the brand has nothing to hide, they’ll tell you without any trouble.

Timing Is Everything

If you’ve done everything right and you know the CBD oil you’ve purchased is top-shelf, then it could just come down to timing. Everyone is different; we’ve said that before. But no matter your metabolism, you must wait at least an hour between doses. For the best results, consume CBD on an empty stomach or with a glass of water.

5 Ways to Use CBD Oil

One of the best reasons to try CBD oil is its versatility. Here are the five ways you can use CBD oil during your day.

• Sublingually: The original method of enjoying CBD. By placing a few drops under your tongue and holding it there for about one minute, you’ll begin to feel the effects in as little as fifteen minutes. The capillaries under your tongue push the cannabinoids into your bloodstream.
• Ingested: You can swallow CBD like you would a fish oil or vitamin. The effects take longer with this method, maybe around an hour. The upside? It’s very easy to re-dose and keep a sustained level of comfort throughout the day.
• Topical: CBD muscle creams or body oils penetrate the skin to reach the receptors throughout your muscle tissue. This is the best way to target aches in your joints or sore muscles from working out.
• Suppository: During menstrual cramps, a CBD suppository can alleviate pain and discomfort without having to resort to typical over-the-counter pain relievers.
• Inhalation: CBD vapes use a unique oil formula that makes them safe to inhale. By breathing in CBD vapor, you’re getting the fastest method of consumption. The lungs quickly process the cannabinoids and send them directly into your bloodstream. The downside? They last about half as long as CBD oils that are ingested orally.