6 Tips on How to Choose Trustworthy CBD Companies

April 2, 2021April 2, 2021 Lance Cook

With CBD becoming more popular each day, the influx of new manufacturers and brands could seem somewhat overwhelming at first. Luckily, there is a way to avoid scams and low-quality products. Today, we’re talking about what to keep in mind before opting for a particular company and how the top brands fare against our six essential considerations.

Weeding Out the Scammers: 6 Tips on How to Choose a Reliable CBD Company

Since the CBD market is somewhat new, scammers are still commonplace. Provided someone has enough money to invest in the manufacturing process, they may be able to break into the industry fast.

The problem is that cutting corners is rather dominant, as the quality isn’t still regulated well. Thus, we have a potentially dangerous issue on hand if we don’t do our research well, just like some Utah users did. These tips, however, should weed out any shady brands and ensure your CBD products are top-quality.

1. Assess the Hemp Quality

Since hemp is a bioaccumulator, it absorbs the substances found in its soil and the air surrounding it. Thus, it is vital to check how the manufacturer grows its crops and whether the soil and the air are free from heavy metals and other pollutants. Otherwise, these could jeopardize the quality of the extracts and, thus, the final products.

Ensuring the hemp is 100% organic and free from GMOs and pesticides is another thing that could affect the quality of the product. Companies like Gold Bee and Royal CBD adhere to the best practices in that regard. In general, the best crops are found in Scandinavia and the US, as farmers there usually need certificates to grow and distribute their hemp.

2. Check What Extraction Process It Uses

Companies that are trying to save on the manufacturing process may opt to use solvent-based extraction. These are the companies to avoid since extraction is one of the most critical quality factors. We want to ingest or apply CBD products, so they have to be safe for the human body and have little to no side effects. However, the usual suspects (butane, propane, hexane, and pentane) could be harmful and might jeopardize the product’s quality.

Instead, we ought to pick companies that use CO2 extraction; that kind of processing doesn’t involve using heat or any solvents to yield clean and safe extracts. The equipment needed for it makes it rather expensive, though, which may drive up the product’s price. Still, it speaks volumes about the company’s reliability.

3. Consider the Company’s Aims and Values

A company that doesn’t have a powerful mission statement might be only trying to make a quick buck. We can quickly notice where its values lie by merely checking the wording the brand uses. If it focuses too much on the distribution (getting as many customers as possible) and not very much on the quality and education (explaining the research behind crop growth and product formulas, the manufacturing process, and similar) — the company may not be so reliable after all.

Companies with fantastic mission statements include Charlotte’s Web and Gold Bee. Each lets us feel how the company sees the whole industry, what it aims to do in terms of innovation, and how its products will help those in need. As a rule of thumb, we should avoid companies with vague or salesy mission statements.

4. Check Whether It Does Third-Party Testing

Since CBD laws and regulations are few and far between, sketchy manufacturers can easily deceive the public into believing their products are top-quality. The only reliable way to verify that is to check whether a company does third-party testing.

Gold Bee is an excellent example of this, as the company isn’t afraid to post the results online for everyone to see. These unbiased results should show if the ad campaign is based on truth, half-truths, or lies. However, not every company makes this data available to customers. In that case, we can simply move on to another brand — the risk just isn’t worth it.

5. Take Into Account the Company’s Return and Refund Policies

We have to remember that reliable companies want users to give their feedback and be 100% satisfied with a product. To that end, the best companies often offer refunds up to a designated number of days and a satisfaction guarantee. This adds another layer of trustworthiness to them as it shows they are confident that the quality is top-notch. At the very least, it conveys that they are looking out for their customers and want for them to test the products first and ensure they’re the right match for them.

6. Check if It Has Full-Spectrum Products

CBD products can be full-spectrum, broad-spectrum, or isolates, based on how much THC they contain.

Full-spectrum products have a wealth of cannabis compounds in them, as they entail using the whole plant and are thus the most “complete” option. They are popular because of the entourage effect, resulting from all the compounds working together synergically and thus enhancing or complementing each other’s effects.

Broad-spectrum products keep various cannabinoids and other compounds from the cannabis plant but shouldn’t contain any THC. In some cases, though, there might be trace amounts left behind.

Isolates are, as the name says, isolated (pure) CBD. They are the safest option overall if we’re trying to avoid THC altogether.

So which one to choose? If possible, we’d always go with full-spectrum products, as these offer a better bang for the buck. We’d only need a little bit to replicate the effects of broad-spectrum or isolate CBD products. Better still, the effects would be more beneficial overall, as all the useful compounds found in cannabis are kept during the extraction and work together to generate the entourage effect.

Final Thoughts

Keeping all CBD companies accountable isn’t really possible, as the industry is still young and lacks crucial laws and regulations. Still, that shouldn’t stop anyone from doing their research to weed out shady brands and keep them at bay. These six tips ought to serve as a neat guide when vetting companies. Before going through with a purchase, use them to do a quick background check on a brand and make sure its ads are selling quality, not lies.