You can find hemp oil everywhere these days from supplements to grocery stores, dispensaries to shabby gas stations. Even so many cafes and restaurants use it in CBD latte, cookies to cooking oil. But the majority of the industry is unregulated and there are many legal issues with cannabis. So, cheating customers with the wrong products is most common here, so do your research before buying any hemp product.

Do the research of the brand, the customer reviews, learn where they grow their hemp, as they do not grow all hemp equally. The best way to learn about the product other than its label is from its third-party test results. Every big and good brand provides third-party results to earn trust and show authenticity, thus keeping it transparent. But to look at the report you need to learn what is the correct percentages and what to look for in your CBD lab report.

The problem with labels

In the current scenario, you can’t trust the CBD product labels completely. A study shows that many product labels miscalculate the cannabinoid concentration / don’t provide information about the existence of the compound. This wrong information is enabling them to cheat their customers with less product and more price.

The study reported that approximately 70% of brands presented wrong CBD content in their product. Also, researchers found the presence of THC in 18 out of 84 products, and thus are responsible for intoxication. Because of all these frauds, customers must check third-party lab reports or COA. 

Why are third-party results important?

In this fraudulent and hyped CBD market, third-party results can only help you identify the correct and authentic product. Third-party lab test implies an independent company where the CBD company sends its products such as excellent CBD vape pens for testing. They check the product’s concentration, potential, presence of chlorophyll, pesticides, and many other unwanted substances.

They only give a right check if the product is okay, otherwise, the manufacturers rectify it, thus there’s a guarantee that you’re consuming the right product. As many companies provide wrong labels, you can only trust a product through third-party lab reports. Moreover, the cannabis plant contains hundreds of compounds where CBD is just one of them. Reports make it transparent how much of which compound is present.

What is COA?

COA is a Certificate of Analysis, which provides all information about lab tests, products, brand information, & the percentage of the compounds. To keep customers’ trust, authentic brands are joining hands with accredited third-party labs, so that they can publish the reports with a COA. The report provides all information about the content of THC, CBG, CBD and CBN content in the product.

They also provide information about the terpene content which will say whether and how much grass-like, pungent flavor will the product have. Also, you need to check COA to detect the presence of any unwanted and harmful chemicals in the product.

Components that should and should not be present

• Amount of CBD- CBD content of the product should be accurate because your dosage depends on that. Dosages vary with the height and weight of people, so a wrong product might cause you adverse reactions. Also, you need to see if you’re paying for that amount of CBD that you are getting and not more.
• Amount of THC- The permissible amount in CBD products is 0-0.3% of THC, and the FDA doesn’t allow more than that. Also, THA causes intoxication, so high presence of THA will make you feel high.
• Full-spectrum vs isolate- Full spectrum contains terpenes and CBG which is more effective than just isolated CBD.

What is Cannabinoid profile analysis?

It is the overall analysis of the presence and concentration of the cannabinoid compounds like CBD or THC is THCV, CBG, CBC, CBN, THCA, CBDA, & CBGA. A full-spectrum CBD report must show the presence of THC but definitely inside the legal limit of 0.3%. Whereas a broad-spectrum report will exhibit ND (non-detectable) THC levels.

From an isolated CBD, the report expects nothing less than 99% or more CBD percentage. There are also IDs listed in the report which depicts the number of cannabis compounds the product was tested for. You will only get those compounds in the report that are present in a considerably high amount.

How to read the report?

First, check if the report is COA approved, then check its Report date, thus you can be sure of the report’s authenticity. Check the name of the third-party lab the product got tested from, and make sure if that lab is listed and accredited. After that, look for the brand and confirm if it’s the same brand name mentioned in the product packaging. At last, check if the batch number and description coincide with that of the packaging.

Don’t go for products that miss lab reports or show no presence of cannabinoids or even too much THC. Deduct products that provide misinformation on CBD potent or the number of terpenes present.