10 Apr Down and Dirty, Black CBD Oil Extraction
As some of you know there a few different ways CBD oil is extracted. In this article we are going to go into detail on how and why some company’s follow the correct extraction right the way through and why some CBD companies avoid and use shortcuts.
Extraction methods
There are many ways to extract the oil from the plant and make CBD oil. CO2 extraction systems use CO2 as a solvent to extract the oil. The solvent is considered a cleaner, purer form of extraction because there is no residue after extraction.
To isolate the individual compounds (CBD being one of them), the extracted oil needs to be distilled after extraction. The first step is a process called Winterization, followed by Short Path Distillation.
Extraction Process
Winterization
This is the second step once the oil is extracted using CO2 extraction. This process is considered the most important part of the whole extraction process. The oil at this stage is Black just like crude oil. The oil carries fats, waxes and lipids. Some argue that this oil is more beneficial that a clear CBD oil. We reached out to a company in Ireland who sells full spectrum CBD oil.
David from 123cbd.ie who has been part of the cannabis industry since 2005 explained
“When a cannabis plant is grown outside it draws all its minerals and nutrients from the soil. Iron, nitrogen, phosphors to name a few, which in large doses are very dangerous for consumptions. How do company’s selling Black raw CBD oil insure that all these minerals are removed from the CBD oil ? This is why winterization is so important! We know that there is 0 trace of any mineral or compound left in our full spectrum CBD oil. Yes it costs more to refine but I sleep well at night knowing that my customers are not ingesting anything they shouldn’t be”
Winterization is the process to remove undesirable elements that were extracted from the plant, for example fats, waxes, and lipids. This process is only needed when the oil was extracted at high pressure/high temperature (supercritical) because this intense extraction pulls everything from the plant, including material you don’t want in the final products. The extracted oil is effectively crude oil, which needs refining.
Conclusion
You wouldn’t put Raw unrefined engine oil in your petrol tank, so should we be putting Black raw CBD oil into our body? Are company’s skipping extraction methods to save money and charge more than they should?