From Seed To Bottle: How Is CBD Oil Made?
Cannabidiol, also known as CBD, is one of the chemical compounds referred to as cannabinoids found in cannabis. It’s considered to be the second most prevalent cannabinoid in the cannabis plant.
The ‘high’ sensation that’s usually associated with cannabis or marijuana, on the other hand, is caused by tetrahydrocannabinol, also known as THC. Unlike THC, CBD is not a psychoactive cannabinoid and doesn’t evoke a psychoactive side effect.
One of the products of CBD is CBD oil. CBD oil has grown in popularity in many parts of the world. Many scientists and societies are slowly discovering that CBD oil may help with pain reduction, anxiety, and depression or even aid in reducing one’s acne.
However, beyond all the benefits that have been put forward, you may wonder how CBD oil is made. The following is a step-by-step guide on how CBD oil is made, from seed to bottle:
- Plant Your Hemp Seed
Before any plant develops, a seed needs to be planted. Prepare the soil and test for herbicides before planting to ensure that everything goes smoothly as the hemp plant grows. Hemp plants can be grown quite close together, and this allows for a greater yield from small pieces of land. Therefore, if you’re learning how to grow hemp seeds, know that it doesn’t require large acres of land.
Hemp tends to grow quite rapidly and sprout within about 60 days. Once you’ve planted the hemp seed, try and make harvesting predictions so as to estimate how long the rest of the manufacturing process will be and whether you’ve made any improvements in terms of your yield.
- Harvest Your Hemp Plant
During the fall season, or depending on when you planted your hemp seeds, it’s will then be time to harvest the plant. Some areas around the world have to undergo tests before anything is harvested. Since CBD is known to have no psychoactive or ‘high’ effects, that particular area’s agricultural department may want to ensure that the hemp plant is at a steady percentage in terms of the THC percentage before harvesting can officially occur.
The flowers of the hemp plant are usually the initial target because the resin glands of the trichinae of the hemp plant are usually where the cannabinoids are commonly concentrated. The plants are put up to be air-dried in a well-ventilated area or cured after they’re harvested. The curing process takes up to 3-4 weeks to complete.
The flowers of the hemp plant are stripped from the plants once you’re sure that they’re entirely dry. Thereafter, the hemp plants are sent to the manufacturers, where extraction of cannabinoids may occur.
- Extracting CBD From Your Dried Hemp Flowers
Extraction is the most prominent and could be considered the most fun part of the making of CBD oil. The process of extraction is when the hemp plant has CBD extract removed from it in order to turn it into a usable form for topical application or ingestion. There are various extraction methods, and thus your results may range. However, you’re likely to see some raw extract with a thick oily texture and dark.
Ethanol extraction describes the process of extracting CBD oil by soaking the hemp plant in high-grain alcohol. Ethanol extraction is one reason that some CBD oils have ethanol in them. This article explains and explores other reasons ethanol could be present in CBD oil. It’s considered to be one of the most high-quality natural extraction methods and seems to be the most effective on the market.
CO2 extraction describes the process of isolating cannabinoids under very low temperatures using carbon dioxide. The cool and condensed carbon dioxide cools and extracts the CBD oil. There’s no residue or chemicals left behind during this process.
Lastly, oil extraction is when you heat up your hemp plant and cook it in a carrier oil, like sunflower oil or olive oil. This helps extract the desired cannabinoids.
This method is more of an at-home method as it doesn’t require any robust equipment. There’s a wide range of extraction processes to choose from when you undergo this step in the process of making CBD oil.
- Creating Your CBD Oil
Once your CBD oil is in its purest form post-extraction, it may be combined with other ingredients, like carrier oils or flavoring. Some of the popular carrier oils used in creating CBD oil are coconut oil or hempseed oil. These oils have a good amount of saturated fats, and these saturated fat molecules are easily absorbed into the body. The body then gets a good amount of CBD absorbed into its bloodstream.
- Lab Testing and Bottling
During this last step, your CBD oil undergoes some third-party testing. Some batches of the CBD you’ve made are taken to a lab and tested for potency and purity.
There are many ways to use CBD oil and, in order to ensure that it’s effective in these various ways, they have to undergo testing. This helps ensure that the product you’ve created is of good quality. Once you’ve completed the testing process, the CBD oil is then taken to be bottled, labeled, and packaged.
From Seed to Bottle
This step-by-step guide revealed the journey that’s undergone in the making of CBD oil. As the world experiences more technological improvements, the production and manufacturing of CBD oil become more and more seamless.
