METHODS AND USES OF CBD OIL
BY ADAM JACQUES
The start of running a CBD strain and a THC strain are fundamentally the same. We are just attempting to pull all of the oils and hydrocarbons off of the plant, while leaving the plant matter and waxes behind. Traditionally, though, the end product in a lot of cases will be sappy at room temperature making it difficult to handle, compared to THC. THC can make a hard glass- like substance commonly referred to as shatter. A good trick is to put the oil in a freezer, making it brittle and easier to handle (until it warms up again). With a lot of hemp coming into the market, what are the best ways to extract the desirable oils from the plant?
It matters what your intended use of the product will be. Hydrocarbon is a great way to get high-grade oil, but not everyone is interested in “dabbing” high-CBD oil, and the cost to make hydrocarbon-extracted oil on a massive scale makes this a difficult option for most hemp growers. That is not to say all hydrocarbon oil would be smoked, as it can work in any products that can use oil as an ingredient, but, financially, other methods make more sense. CO2 is another method that works well with CBD. With CO2, the entry cost to get a machine to run it is very high, but good CO2 equipment can run massive amounts at a time. The oil from CO2 can be dabbed, put in pen tops, and used for other products such as edibles and topical.
Ethanol is another method that will work with large scale hemp farmers. Ethanol extractions, like other methods, will retain cannabnoids and terpenes. Some processors will use ethanol along with other extraction methods for cleaner oil.
All methods are viable and it comes down to what the processor believes to be best for their purposes. The only variant I would add is, with some methods, you can create an isolate that can give you 99-percent pure CBD, which is something to consider when deciding what road to take with your extraction. CBD isolate only gives you the CBD though, hence the name. All other cannabanoids and terpenes are removed in the process. The act of turning your flowers into oil gives you a product that is immensely useful in many applications. The oil can be tested and that makes it easy to measure the amount of CBD you are putting into your product. Easy math for making products: test results of percentages directly translates milligrams when you multiply it by 10. So, if your oil tested at 70-percent CBD you would know that one gram of your oil contains 700 milligrams of CBD. Oil is arguably the best product you can make from CBD-dominant plants and its medical value is immense.
CO2 is another method that works well with CBD. With CO2, the entry cost to get a machine to run it is very high, but good CO2 equipment can run massive amounts at a
