How Is CBD Oil Made?
CBD oil can be made in many ways. Every manufacturer uses their process to extract the CBD from a plant, suspend it in a carrier oil, and package it for you to use. There is no wrong way to do this, but many consumers feel that there are superior ways to do it. They shop according to their preferences.
The overwhelming majority of CBD products are made from hemp plants. Some CBD products are made from traditional cannabis plants. Our CBD Is made from orange peels. As you can imagine, our process doesn’t look the same as most CBD manufacturers.
Here are the differences between the production of hemp-derived CBD oil and Peels CBD.
What is CBD Oil?
CBD oil can technically mean a lot of things. Sometimes, CBD is isolated from the rest of the plant material it used to live within and suspended in an oil base. It also means full spectrum hemp extract, which is similar to essential oil from a hemp flower. It contains all of the cannabinoids, terpenes, and phytonutrients from hemp.
The simplest and most direct definition of CBD oil is cannabidiol emulsified into a carrier oil. The specifics will vary from product to product and manufacturer to manufacturer.
How is Hemp Derived CBD Oil Extracted?
In order to make CBD oil, the cannabidiol needs to be extracted from the hemp flower. There are several processes manufacturers can use to facilitate this process. They all use a multi-chambered extraction machine and some kind of solvent to get the cannabinoids out of the hemp.
Solvent Extraction
Solvent extraction machines use a solvent, like butane or ethanol, to extract the cannabinoids from the hemp flower. Food-grade ethanol is the most common choice for CBD products as it’s the same solvent used to make products like vanilla extract.
The flower is submerged in the solvent, which dissolves the cannabinoids, oils, and waxes from the flower. The remaining plant material is separated from the solvent, and the CBD undergoes a final process to remove the solvent from the extract.
Oil Extraction
Oil extraction is a form of extraction most people use at home. It starts with grinding and decarboxylating (heat activating) the cannabinoids in the hemp flower.
The hemp flower is then submerged in a neutral carrier oil (like olive oil) and simmered on low heat for several hours. The plant remnants are strained away from the final mixture, creating a CBD-infused oil.
CO2 Extraction
Supercritical CO2 extraction has a reputation for producing the purest, highest quality extracts from hemp.
CO2 has both gas and solid forms. A supercritical CO2 extraction machine uses heat and pressure to simultaneously produce the gas properties of CO2 and the solid properties of CO2.
The supercritical CO2 is run through the hemp, extracting the cannabinoids and carrying them off. The CO2 and cannabinoids are separated, and the CO2 waits to begin its loop of extraction again.
How is Hemp CBD Extract Turned Into a Usable Product?
When the extraction process is complete, the hemp extract left behind is highly concentrated. It’s too potent to be used directly as a CBD oil supplement.
The CBD needs to be diluted to an appropriate strength for individual doses. The extract is an oil, and the oil is hydrophobic, which means it won’t blend with water.
Manufacturers use a carrier oil to dilute the CBD. In fact, Olive oil, coconut oil, hemp seed oil, and medium-chain triglyceride oil (usually derived from coconuts) are the most commonly used carrier oils for CBD.
When the CBD is properly diluted and emulsified, it should be sent off for testing at a third-party lab. The third-party lab checks to verify the cannabinoid content that the company reports and reviews for contaminants and residual solvents.
Not all CBD companies do this. It isn’t required by law since the FDA treats CBD products as supplements rather than medications. It’s best not to trust CBD companies that don’t voluntarily utilize third-party testing and give consumers access to the reports.
Consumer advocates have sent samples of untested CBD products off to accredited testing labs and found that untested products sometimes didn’t contain any CBD at all. Without lab testing, you’ll never know what you’re getting or if your product is safe.
The CBD is then placed into dropper bottles to make CBD oil tinctures or fill soft gel capsules.
Does the Finished Product Contain THC?
All hemp plants naturally contain small amounts of THC. While the amounts of THC in hemp are so minimal that they’re regarded as incapable of producing psychoactive effects, they still enter your bloodstream and can be stored in your body fat.
THC remains in your body fat for an indefinite period, regardless of diet or exercise, and its presence will be detectable through urinalysis. This poses a significant problem for people who are unallowed to use products containing THC. There’s no guarantee that those products won’t show up on a drug test.
THC isn’t considered a contaminant. It’s a naturally occurring cannabinoid. CBD is made from hemp plants that contain less than 0.3% THC by their dry weight. This minimal amount of THC remains a part of all full-spectrum CBD products.
This isn’t enough THC to produce psychoactive effects. People who use full-spectrum hemp extracts don’t get high as a result. Meanwhile, broad-spectrum CBD products undergo another round of processing to remove most of the detectable THC.
CBD isolates are products that have been processed to isolate CBD from other cannabinoids or plant compounds completely. These undergo the most significant amount of processing.
How Peels CBD is Made
Peels isn’t made like any other CBD product. Our CBD has never met a hemp plant. We make our CBD from citrus peels through a proprietary process called cyclic terpene assembly (CTA).
Citrus and cannabis have a lot of terpenes (aromatic plant compounds) in common. Our special process takes the terpenes from citrus and converts them into CBD that is completely identical to the CBD that naturally occurs in hemp. The human body can’t tell the difference between hemp-derived CBD and orange peel-derived CBD.
The CTA process doesn’t involve the use of any solvents or potential contaminants. We don’t need to destroy the essence of the CBD or sully it with chemicals.
We combine orange peel terpenes with an organic compound called olivetol that naturally occurs in many different kinds of moss. Olivetol also briefly naturally occurs in hemp plants during the process of cannabinoid synthesis.
We’re making cannabinoids from terpenes, and olivetol perfectly promotes this process. To achieve this, we use heat and pressure to facilitate the process.
This results in crystalline CBD that is then minimally processed. It’s combined with MCT oil derived from coconut and natural organic flavor to create the finished product.
Does Peels Contain THC?
Peels does not contain any THC, and it can’t show up on a drug test. We only make CBD from oranges. Oranges do not naturally contain any THC, and manufacturing THC would require an extremely different process.
Peels products are naturally 100% free from THC. They’re compliant with the World Anti-Doping Agency’s exemption for CBD and won’t cause an athlete to test positive for cannabis.
Is Peels Safe?
Peels goes above and beyond to assure product safety. Our CBD is third-party lab tested, and we post-test results for every batch on the purchase page. The results verify our cannabinoid content, as well as check for the presence of things like pesticides. We’ve also been certified and awarded by Clean Label for purity.
Our orange peels are responsibly sourced from farms in Brazil’s citrus belt, and more than 80% of the farms we source from are certified by the Rainforest Alliance.
Our Peels are processed as close to the harvest sites as possible in an effort to avoid environmental disturbances associated with transportation.
Yes, Peels is safe. It’s safe for your body, and we make every effort to keep it safe for the environment.
Add Peels to Your Wellness Ritual
Peels created CBD that everyone can use. There are no pesticides, no solvents, and no THC. Just orange peels, organic compounds, MCT coconut oil, and natural organic flavor. Make Peels a part of your wellness ritual.
Sources:
Solvent Extraction | American Oil Chemists Society