Retailer’s Guide to Finding Quality CBD Oil

CBD products have left the smoke stops and gained mainstream appeal around the world. Today, it’s not uncommon to find retail stores selling CBD products where the law allows their uninhibited sale. However, deciding to sell CBD is a bit more complicated than selling most products.

In Canada, you need to make sure the producer you are buying from has the right paperwork, or you may face legal consequences. On top of that, you need to find a trustworthy manufacturer who can ensure the quality of the product they are offering. Here’s how you can find quality CBD products without needing to become an expert on the subject.

1 - Make sure you are buying real CBD

The CBD market is new, and it’s starting to boom in popularity. That growth has attracted many scammers, most of whom seek to profit by exploiting the public’s lack of understanding of the substance.

For example, you will find many sellers online trying to pass hemp seed oil for CBD. While CBD is extracted from hemp, hemp seeds do not contain the substance. This scam is common in platforms like Amazon and eBay. By the way, CBD products are not allowed on Amazon, so buying any CBD there is always risky.

2 - Find out the extraction method

When looking at a manufacturer’s website, one of the things you should be interested in is transparency. How open are they about their manufacturing process? Do they explain how their CBD is extracted from hemp?

There are many ways to go about extracting CBD. The cheap methods involve using powerful solvents, which get the job done, but may contaminate the final product if not handled with care. The more expensive — and safest — method is to use supercritical CO2 to separate the CBD. If you can, work with manufacturers that use the second method.

Either way, transparency is a good sign. Avoid manufacturers that don’t disclose this sort of information.

3 - Look for test results

The only way to make sure a CBD product is free of contamination is to have it tested by a third-party laboratory. Upstanding sellers often have their CBD tested and publish the results online, so you can check the purity of each batch before you even order their product. Skipping this step saves money and may bring down the price of the products, but it’s safer to buy CBD that was tested.

4 - Find out where the hemp was grown

Another way to help make sure the CBD is high-quality is to find out where the hemp came from. Any contamination of the soil beneath the hemp may be soaked up by the plant’s roots and end up in its biomass. That’s usually how you end up with CBD oil that is contaminated with fungus or heavy metal. Ideally, the manufacturer should work with growers that test their soil regularly to prevent these types of contamination.

5 - Contact other retailers

The best source of information is always people in your field. Contact other retailers who work with CBD, or look for people at events and conventions. See if you can pick their brain to find good suppliers, and what pitfalls to avoid. That can spare you a lot of headaches in the future.

Learning a bit more about the CBD production process may also be useful. This Cibdol article can help you get started.