Many people have claimed a multitude of benefits associated with CBD in recent years. This has led to an explosion in popularity and has catapulted it to rockstar status. People using CBD Products have claimed it helped them with everything from pain to anxiety and everything in between everyone is jumping on the bandwagon and giving it a try these days. Hemp is here to stay and definitely making a big splash in the health food industry!
Cannabidiol, better known as CBD is derived from the hemp plant. Hemp is part of the cannabis sativa family and cousins with the far better-known marijuana plant. Whereas marijuana has high levels of THC, a psychoactive cannabinoid and very low levels of CBD, hemp has the opposite with high levels of CBD and low levels of THC. Before CBD can be helpful or even taken it must first be extracted from the plant material which is done in a variety of ways. The three main methods are solvent extraction, steam distillation, and CO2 supercritical extraction. No matter the method the first product to come from extraction is a crude CBD oil.
What is Crude CBD Oil?
Crude CBD oil is also known as Rick Simpson oil after a Canadian man who believed in the healing powers of cannabis and used it on himself to treat cancer along with other ailments. Crude CBD oil is generally a very dark brown to black in color and contains the full makeup of the plant. This includes CBD, CBC, CBN, CBG, and over 80 different phytocannabinoids present in the hemp plant. Along with the cannabinoids it also holds many other phytochemical compounds and natural minerals such as amino acids, iron, zinc, calcium, magnesium, potassium, carbohydrates, vitamins B1, B2, B6, D, omega 3 & 6 fatty acids, beta-carotene, chlorophyll, ketones, flavonoids, pigments, nitrogenous compounds, alkanes, glycosides, water, and terpenes. Crude CBD oil is as close as you can possibly get to the real plant’s chemical makeup as it grows in the ground. Every compound and component of hemp is in the crude.
How to Use CBD Crude Oil
Some people will say that taking Crude CBD oil is better than other methods since it is so close to the original chemical makeup of the hemp plant. This is because of a phenomenon known as the entourage effect where it is believed that all the components of the hemp plant work in conjunction with one another and essentially make each other more effective. Crude CBD oil can be used as-is and some people take it sublingually, under the tongue for a few minutes, or they mix it with food or drink and consume it. Another application of crude CBD oil is to mix it with hair or skincare products and make an at-home CBD rich product. Since the hemp is activated in a process known as decarboxylation which allows your body to use the cannabinoids rather than just pass through it can be used in an abundance of ways that are only limited with the imagination and know-how. Crude CBD oil can also be refined into a more potent mixture through a process called distillation, which produces what is known as full-spectrum CBD distillate.
What Is CBD Full-Spectrum Distillate
After taking a crude CBD oil and putting it through the process of distillation we are left with a full-spectrum CBD distillate. This means that the distillate has the full range of cannabinoids, flavonoids, and terpenes as the original plant. The biggest difference between distillate and the crude CBD oil is that the distillate will generally have a CBD content of around 80%. This means that the distillate is more potent and less of it will be needed to reach the intended dosage of CBD. But it also means that the original profile of the plant is maintained and your body is getting all of the other supposed beneficial compounds found in the hemp plant. Full-spectrum CBD distillate will generally be a gold color and, other than crude CBD oil, it is the closest thing to the original plant’s chemical makeup. Full-spectrum CBD distillate can be further refined into other products such as broad-spectrum CBD distillate which has all the other cannabinoids, terpenes, and flavonoids without the THC and CBD isolate which is generally 95% or more CBD and no other compounds found in the hemp plant remain.
How to Use CBD Distillates and Isolate
Just like crude CBD oil, distillates and isolate can be used in much the same ways. They can be taken by themselves or added to food or drink. They can also be added to skin or haircare products to make a quick homemade CBD topical. Isolate is especially useful if trying to add a specific amount of CBD to homemade products. CBD distillates and isolate also find their way into a myriad of finished CBD products that are sold directly to the consumer whereas crude CBD oil is not always offered to the public. Distillates made from CBD are also now being altered to create new variants in the form of Delta 8, HHC, THCp and THC0. You can find thcp for sale in many product variations but the base of all those products will be the distillate that is created using a hemp-derived concentrate.
