CBD Oil Buyers Guide: How to pick the right CBD oil
When you take a quick look at CBD shops, you probably notice that there are tons of CBD oil’s out there to choose from. This can make it hard for you to pick the right one, especially if you don’t know what to look for. When it comes to CBD oil it is very important to use a high-quality product. Unfortunately, there are quite some bad brands on the market. That’s why we wrote this CBD oil buyers guide, which will explain how to pick the right CBD oil.
CBD Oil Buyers Guide [step 1]: Lab test results
When it comes to picking a CBD oil, it is very important that it has been lab-tested by a third-party. CBD oil lab tests usually look for things like:
● Does the CBD oil contain the correct amount of CBD?
● What are the percentages of other cannabinoids & terpenes that are present (such as THC)?
● Is the CBD oil free of potentially harmful substances (such as heavy metals and pesticides)?
So, in order to buy a potent and healthy CBD oil, it needs to be lab-tested by a third-party. It’s also important that these lab-test results are actually published on the website of the brand, so you can confirm that they are legit.
CBD Oil Buyers Guide [step 2]: Carrier oil
Another important aspect when it comes to picking a CBD oil, is the carrier oil. As the name implies, CBD oil consists out of a carrier oil (such as MCT oil or hemp seed oil) plus a CBD extract. The carrier oil makes up a huge part of the CBD oil, and has a functional role. There are a lot of different carrier oils that can be used for CBD oil. However, each one has different properties. Therefore, some carrier oils are way more suitable for CBD oil than others, as they for example have a higher absorption rate. We wrote an article about about the different carrier oils for CBD oil. After comparing the most common carrier oils, we concluded that MCT oil is the best one. Therefore, we recommend to pick a CBD oil that has MCT oil as carrier.
CBD Oil Buyers Guide [step 3]: Non-GMO, natural & organic
Hemp is a natural plant with natural compounds, and it should stay that way. That’s why you should only buy CBD oil that’s natural, organic and non-GMO in our opinion. Non-GMO means that the hemp that is used for the CBD oil isn’t genetically modified in a laboratory. So; all the present compounds occur like that naturally.
CBD Oil Buyers Guide [step 4]: CBD content / strength
The next thing to look for when picking a CBD oil, is the CBD content in mg. This stands for the actual amount of CBD that’s in the CBD oil. Some CBD tinctures will only have very little of CBD in it (such as 250mg), and others will have a lot of CBD (up to even 5000mg). The bottles with very few mg of CBD are usually smaller and cheaper. These are meant for people that don’t use CBD often. The stronger bottles are usually bigger in size and are more expensive. These are meant for people that use CBD very often, or need higher doses. However, there are also brands that sell tinctures with only little mg of CBD in them for expensive prices.
When you don’t know a lot about CBD content and prices, you can easily pay too much for a bottle with not a lot of CBD in it. That’s why it’s a good idea to compare the CBD amounts and prices of different brands, as most brands use standard amounts of CBD per bottle (such as 500mg – 1000mg – 2000mg etc.). In doing so, you may notice that certain brands provide more mg of CBD for the same price as other brands, or that some brands sell the same amount of CBD for way cheaper than others. If you really want an exact comparison, you can calculate the price per mg for several bottles and compare them. However; although it’s important to get a tincture with a high amount of CBD, it doesn’t necessarily mean that the quality is good as well.
CBD Oil Buyers Guide [step 5]: Price & quality
As we described above, one thing that determines the price of a CBD oil is the CBD content. However; you also pay for quality. Low-quality CBD oils are generally cheaper, and high-quality CBD oils are generally more expensive. This doesn’t mean that more expensive is always better or that cheaper CBD oils are always bad though. Some low-quality brands simply charge way too much. There are also some high-quality brands with very affordable prices. So; to pick the right CBD oil, you also need to determine whether the price-quality ratio is appropriate or not. You can do so by combining all the different factors described in this buyers guide, and base your conclusion on that.
CBD Oil Buyers Guide [Step 6]: Form
CBD oil is available in three different forms; isolate, full spectrum and broad spectrum. So; when picking a CBD oil, you need to decide which of these forms you pick. The difference between these forms is the cannabis-compounds that are present in the CBD oil. This article describes the differences between these three forms very detailed, but to summarize the main difference briefly: Isolate only contains the compound “CBD”. Full spectrum contains all the compounds of a whole plant, and broad spectrum contains all the compounds except THC.
Full spectrum provides the most powerful benefits, since all the hemp-compounds work together creating a synergistic effect. However; it also contains a little bit of THC (<0,3%). “THC” is the cannabis-compound that provides a “high” effect. Although this trace amount of THC in full spectrum CBD oil isn’t enough to make you high in the same way regular weed does, it can be enough to make you test positive on a drug test. These tests look for THC, and can pick up very small amounts already. Also; if you’re very sensitive to THC and use a lot of full spectrum CBD, it is possible to experience some sort of slight “buzz” the first few times of using.
So; if you’re afraid of getting drug tested or afraid of the effects of the very little bit of THC, you’ve got two THC-free options that will avoid these potential problems. Out of these two, we recommend broad spectrum CBD oil over isolate CBD oil. This is because broad spectrum still contains all the other hemp-compounds, so will provide the strongest possible effect while avoiding THC. If you don’t have concerns about getting drug tested or about the potential slight buzz-feeling, we recommend going for full spectrum.
CBD Oil Buyers Guide [Step 7]: Reviews
When you’ve gone through all the above points, there are probably only a few CBD brands remaining to choose from. The final thing you should do to pick a CBD oil, is checking reviews of that brand. Don’t check the reviews on their own website, as they potentially could be manipulated. Instead, check reviews on independent websites such as cbdoilarticles.com.
Conclusion: How to pick the best CBD oil
When you’ve gone through all the above-described points, it should be clear that there are a lot of things that you should pay attention to when it comes to picking a CBD oil. We understand that this can be a hard process for people, especially with the 100’s of CBD brands on the market. That’s why we from CBD Oil Articles already gone through this process ourselves, so you won’t have to. The CBD oil brand that we highly recommend is this one. Why? Because that brand uses the best carrier oil (MCT), their CBD oil is non-GMO, natural and organic (it’s even in their name), and all their products are lab-tested by a third-party (with results published on their website). They also offer all the three forms of CBD to choose from, the CBD-content in their CBD oil is very high compared to other brands, and their prices are even very affordable as well. Of course we had to test their products ourselves, and concluded that it’s really the best CBD brand that we ever used. You can read our full review of this brand here.
More info about CBD
After reading this buyer’s guide you’ll understand how to pick the right CBD oil. However; when you’re new to CBD, you probably have several other questions about it, such as how to properly use it. Therefore we highly suggest you to check the other CBD articles on our website as well. Besides CBD oil, there are several other CBD products on the market. If you’re not sure whether CBD oil is the right CBD product for you, you should check our article about CBD tinctures vs vape vs edibles. If you got any other questions; feel free to leave a comment below so we can help you.
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Researched and written by MD Jamie Evans.
We may include links to products that we recommend. These are ‘affiliate links’. When you make a purchase through these links we earn commission.
Disclaimer: We do not claim that any testimonial or experience is representative of what any other consumer might experience. Individual results may vary, and no experience has been clinically proven or evaluated. All opinions expressed are strictly the views of our team.
CBD is not intended to treat, cure or prevent any disease. The information on this website is not meant as a substitute for information from health care practitioners. Always consult your health care professional before using CBD.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) does not regulate CBD for treating health conditions.