Whether you’ve been taking cannabidiol (CBD) for a while or you’re just learning about the benefits, it’s important to be sure you can trust your preferred brand.
You also need to make sure your brand of choice produces a high-quality product.
How do you know which brand to trust? How can you determine which CBD products are actually high-quality? How do you find the right delivery method? These tips will help.
1. Make trust your number one requirement
Do you trust your current brand? If you haven’t tried CBD yet, do you have a trustworthy brand in mind?
CBD companies earn consumer trust in three ways – by providing excellent customer service, a high-quality product, and through transparently sharing lab results.
Companies that spend time and money for lab testing are generally more reliable than companies that make you request the data.
However, in today’s world, it’s not enough to test batches at random.
Companies that test every batch want the best for their customers. For example, Hemp Bombs sends a sample from every batch of every product to the lab for quality testing and publishes the results on their website.
This means the Hemp Bomb’s CBD oil lab results aren’t just copied over from their gummy products. Every product batch is tested independently.
If you’re taking a CBD product and you’re not sure about the quality, or there’s something about the company you don’t trust, keep looking because you’ll find a better brand.
2. Experiment with delivery methods
CBD comes in a variety of delivery methods including plain oil, flavored oil, gummies, and capsules.
Some people can handle any delivery method, but if you’re picky you’ll need to experiment to find your preference.
You might be okay with dropping oil directly into your mouth, or you might need a little flavor. If flavored oils don’t taste quite right, you’ll probably like gummies better.
Unlike oils, gummies taste and feel just like candy. If you’re sensitive to slick textures, gummies might be the best option.
If you want to bypass the need to taste anything at all, you’ll do best with capsules.
3. Research online
A little research can go a long way in terms of familiarizing yourself with the various CBD brands on the market. However, you need to do more than just research different brands.
You need to research how cannabidiol is extracted from industrial hemp and understand the manufacturing process to a small degree.
Understanding the manufacturing process is important because many hemp oil products claim to contain CBD, but the levels are low.
It’s not that these products are bad, but rather, they’re usually full spectrum hemp oils that contain a variety of cannabinoids, including CBD.
When you’re looking for high CBD content, you need to know how to tell the difference between products.
4. Look for companies that go out of their way to explain CBD
A telltale sign of a good company is one that goes out of their way to educate visitors about CBD including benefits and possible side effects.
For example, most CBD companies have a blog where they post content on a regular basis, but sometimes that content lacks substance.
Look for companies that not only publish their lab results, but also publish content explaining how and why CBD works.
If you’re not familiar with what constitutes a good explanation of CBD, look no further than this beginner’s guide to CBD published on Medium.
Once you have a decent grasp on why and how CBD works, you’ll spot legitimate content on company websites.
5. Read online reviews
Online reviews reveal more than just product satisfaction.
Reading online reviews will give you insight into how CBD companies are treating their customers and handling questions and concerns.
Knowing how a company interacts with customers is important. At some point, you might need to contact customer service to ask a question or resolve a shipping issue.
You don’t want to get stuck using a brand that makes customer service difficult.
6. Ask friends for a recommendation
Asking friends and family for brand recommendations is a great way to discover your ideal CBD brand.
If someone you know has received benefit from a certain brand, you can try it out without feeling like you’re gambling with your money.
Let the science – not shiny labels – help you choose
Placing a high importance on lab testing makes you more likely to choose a good CBD product.
No matter how popular a brand might be, and no matter how pretty the label is, look for lab results first.
From there, you can choose gummies or oil knowing that either way you’re getting a high-quality CBD product.