Cannabidiol, better known as CBD, has gained quite a following in recent years. If you follow the CBD craze, you surely know that there are a few different sites and brands offering everything from “All Natural” to “Purely Organic” CBD products.
But are these statements all they’re cracked up to be?
It’s more important than ever to know you’re getting the best CBD oil you can find. Substandard products lead to substandard results, and can even be dangerous depending on what chemicals have found their way into your products.
Here at CBD Choice, however, we don’t mingle with the subpar.
Although we are always growing our inventory, offering everything from CBD oil tinctures to CBD-infused edibles, it’s important that we hold ourselves to high standards regarding the brands we work with and the products we carry.
Now, we wish to pass our CBD criteria off to you. We don’t want our customers questioning whether or not they are getting the BEST products. And now, you won’t have to: You’ll KNOW exactly what you are getting by shopping at CBD Choice.
What is the CBD Choice Criteria?
Because of our commitment to CBD, we’ve developed our own, stringent criteria for the brands we carry. Shopping at CBD Choice, you can be sure every product is:
- Third-Party Lab Tested
- Pesticide-Free
- Residual Solvent-Free
- Heavy Metal-Free
- Derived from Safe Extraction Methods
- Accurate Labeling
So what do we mean by each of these criteria? Read below to learn more about each aspect of our vetting process and why it’s important that the products you buy from us meet all of these quality standards.
(1) Third-Party Lab Tested CBD
Third-party lab tests are carried out by laboratories with no ties to the CBD industry, meaning their conclusions on a particular batch or product are accurate, truthful, and unbiased. The CBD industry is largely unregulated, due primarily to the current lack of federal regulation. That means that third-party lab results can teach you what exactly is your products before ingestion, allowing you to know that adulterants are not present in your CBD treatment.
Lab tests allow you to see:
- The exact amount of CBD in your products
- The amount of THC (if any) present in your products
- The amount of other cannabinoids (CBG, CBN, etc.) present in your products
- That your CBD products have passed various precautionary inspections, including for residual solvents, microbials, mycotoxins, pesticides, herbicides, and other harmful chemical constituents
Reputable lab tests are always done by a third party to remove bias. Products boasting lab tests performed “in-house” or by an organization associated with the manufacturer should be avoided. The brands we carry at CBD Choice advertise their third-party lab results clearly on their websites. Any products not providing third-party lab testing cannot be found on CBD Choice, as the results are one of the most important factors in understanding the safety and efficacy of your products.
(2) Pesticide-Free CBD Products
Pesticides are chemicals sprayed on crops to kill anything from insects to fungus to bacteria. However, pesticides have a long history of incurring human illness or other ailments. They are also inherent of inorganic farming practices, contrary to our CBD Choice belief that the CBD we ingest should derive entirely from natural farming practices.
Pesticides, although designed to disintegrate harvest, often find their way into finished consumer products. This has been linked to acute toxicity, with side effects that include respiratory tract irritation, vomiting, and extreme weakness.
Most third-party lab tests performed on CBD products look for trace amounts of pesticides, and can uncover whether pesticides were used at all based on these trace amounts. Here at CBD Choice, we verify these results to ensure that our customers are no ingesting any of these harmful chemicals.
You should always make sure your CBD is pesticide-free. Long term exposure to pesticides can lead to chronic toxicity, which can be fatal. However, through shopping with CBD Choice, you’ll know you’re not ingesting any of these toxic chemicals.
(3) Residual Solvent-Free CBD Products
Residual solvents are volatile chemicals produced through manufacturing processes. They are known as chemical impurities and can be toxic, even in small amounts.
It’s important that CBD users do not ingest these detrimental chemicals because they have proven to be carcinogenic in humans, causing cancer after long-term exposure. All CBD Choice products are tested for residual solvents before sale, making sure your CBD treatment contains no adverse residual solvents.
Furthermore, residual solvents are bad for the environment. We at CBD Choice cherish our earth, and avoiding products that contain residual solvents means that you can avoid products derived from environmentally-debilitating manufacturing processes.
(4) Heavy Metal-Free CBD Products
While the likes of Black Sabbath and Iron Maiden may disapprove, it’s extremely important for our CBD products to be completely heavy metal-free. Various manufacturing processes are notorious for leaving trace or even microscopic amounts of heavy metals in consumer-grade products.
Sometimes, this isn’t necessarily a risk, depending on the product or application. However, heavy metals should NEVER find their way into ingestible goods, such as CBD products. Why? Because heavy metals can be overtly dangerous for human consumption. They can lead to heavy metal poisoning, which is characterized by intense migraines, severe joint and muscle pains, general weakness, and nausea.
All CBD Choice products are tested for heavy metals prior to sale, ensuring that you will not put yourself at risk through the use of our products. Site-wide, you can be sure that CBD Choice products are free from these harmful manufacturing constituents.
(5) CBD Products Derived from Safe Extraction Methods
Among the many fields of manufacturing, there exist a variety of extraction methods, each with unique properties and uses. When considering an ingestible good like CBD, however, it’s critical that all the brands we carry make use of SAFE extraction methods.
One of the most popular CBD extraction methods used by CBD Choice partners is the supercritical CO2 extraction method. Supercritical CO2 extractions have been shown as one of the safest and most effective methods for extracting CBD from hemp. It works like this:
- Gaseous CO2 is subjected to high pressure and low temperature, changing the CO2 into a liquid state
- This liquified CO2 is then reheated, entering into its “supercritical” state
- Supercritical CO2 exhibits properties of both a gas and a liquid: it fills a space like a gas but maintains a fluid density
- Supercritical CO2 is ran through a chamber containing raw hemp plant material
- The CO2 dissolves the trichomes of the hemp plants, capturing any active compounds, including CBD
Supercritical CO2 extraction methods are vital to the manufacturing of CBD products because CO2 is a nonvolatile solvent. It is also nonflammable and easy to control. Other extraction methods make use of nasty solvents that can easily contaminate the CBD within your products. Some of the other solvents include butane, ethanol, and acetone — ingredients that can be found in gasoline, hand sanitizer, and plastic.
We don’t want these chemicals anywhere near our CBD treatment, and we’re sure you don’t either. That’s why all products at CBD Choice derive from safe extraction methods, primarily supercritical CO2 extractions. However, other brands have developed unique extraction methods that meet our quality criteria, using things like superheated air in place of CO2 to develop their CBD products.
(6) Accurate CBD Labeling
It’s very important to know what is NOT in your products, from heavy metals to residual solvents to pesticides. However, it is also equally important to know what IS in your products. That’s why all products found at CBD Choice are accurately advertised for strength and dosage.
At CBD Choice, we display strength clearly on every product page, measured in milligrams of CBD. This allows you to see the exact amount of CBD in both the entire product you are purchasing and in one serving of that product.
Accurate dosage information is important, allowing you to plan your CBD treatment and know exactly what strength dose is right for you.
The CBD Choice Guarantee
We want all of you to know that you can trust any and all products found at CBD Choice. Because research into CBD is still young — with new clinical trials approved every year — it’s up to CBD manufacturers and brands (like us!) to ensure the safety of CBD products.
We are a group of passionate individuals, wanting to make the world a better place through CBD. We wouldn’t sell you anything we wouldn’t take ourselves, and that’s the CBD Choice guarantee. That is also why we’ve developed this criteria for the products we carry and the brands we work with.
Put your trust in a brand that cares. Put your trust in a brand that takes the extra steps necessary to ensure high-quality, effective, and safe CBD treatment. Put your trust in CBD Choice.
