CBD ISOLATE: How to find it, how it’s made, and how to tell the difference.
CBD isolate is an often searched-after item. But many get it confused with CBD oil in general. Hemp/CBD oil typically includes a few different substances found in a hemp plant, and each one provides different benefits. Here are a few details that make the isolate alone unique.
Where to find quality CBD Isolate:
You can purchase quality CBD isolate in a local shop, or online. Since the farm bill of 2008 and the effects thereafter, it has become much easier to purchase CBD products. The better questions that one might want to consider are this:
- Do you actually want CBD isolate? You might want to consider broad spectrum CBD or full spectrum CBD. (We usually recommend these.)
- How is it made? Is it sourced ethically? Is there a certificate of analysis available? Is it created consistently with the same formula every time? If you want to learn a bit more about how to check the quality of CBD overall, you can read more about it in our article, 8 Things to Know Before You Buy CBD Oil
Of course, you can find quality CBD right here at TheHempHealth.com. We make sure to hold all of the products we source to the same standards above.
How it’s made:
To create Hemp/CBD oil, you must extract the oil from the hemp plant with CO2. This is how raw hemp is created, otherwise referred to as CBDA. CBDA is basically an acidic version of hemp. Similar to marijuana, with hemp, you need to heat it in order to get the effects. With hemp or marijuana, this process is called decarboxylation. Many manufacturers do their best to preserve the cannabinoids and terpenes in the plant, which technically leaves you with a hemp oil, but not an isolate.
To clarify, hemp oil in itself legally contains less than .03% THC. Whether isolated or not, it will not get you high. But, if you truly want to isolate the CBD isolate, the process must include one more step. The final step to isolating the CBD is called winterization. Once the cannabinoids and terpenes have been stripped from the plant, you must soak the CBD flower extract in alcohol and freeze it until a pure CBD isolate is present. At this point, there will be no fats, chlorophyll, or other such substances. If you want to read all the details about how CBD isolate is created, one of our favorite partners, CBDMD, has a great article that you can find right here.
If you want to purchase CBDMD, we have a great collection of CBDMD products in the Hemp Health store.
How to tell the difference between CBD isolate and standard Hemp/CBD Oil:
Three great terms to know are:
- CBD Isolate: This is just CBD. Plain and simple. All cannabinoids, THC and terpenes have been removed. However, the amount of THC found in other products will not get you high and the cannabinoids and terpenes. We typically do not recommend a CBD isolate. It will take a far higher concentration to see results from a CBD isolate.
- Broad Spectrum Hemp: Broad spectrum CBD is often a great alternative to CBD isolate if you absolutely cannot have any THC in your CBD. It contains many of the same properties that full spectrum hemp does, without the THC.
- Full Spectrum Hemp: Full spectrum hemp is definitely what we recommend every time. It contains the cannabinoids, terpenes, and CBD, which all act together to accomplish more with less.
We hope this helped you understand the difference between different CBD isolate products and other CBD products. If you’re looking for some recommendations on which CBD products might work best for you, check out our article on the 6 best CBD oil, gummy, and balm products.
