It was once said that “all good things must come to an end.” Unfortunately, that principle can be applied to the products we purchase and use in our daily lives. Every commercially available product in the world today has an expiration date. The shelf-life of a certain food, medication, and other products can vary widely, and some can even last for centuries. However, everything loses its potential for use in some way or another. This has led to questions about whether or not CBD products can be attributed an expiration date as well.
With CBD growing ever more popular with the everyday consumer, being aware of its lifespan is an important detail. The last thing anyone wants is to use an expired product that can cause more harm than good. So, the next thing we need to ask ourselves is what kind of shelf-life we can expect from our CBD products. How long does it take for CBD to expire, and how long can you hold onto it?
How Long Does CBD Keep?
Let us jump right into the question that has led you all here. Cannabidiol (CBD) has a remarkably long shelf life. Not quite as long as the nearly immortal Twinkie, but a fairly decent one in comparison. Typically, CBD remains viable for between 1 to 2 years. While this is not an extraordinarily long time, it should be sufficient for the average consumer that takes their supplement regularly. However, while CBD has a longer shelf life than most products you will find, that does not mean you are guaranteed to locate a supplement with a two-year lifespan.
Several factors affect the total shelf life of a CBD product, and not all of them are within your control during the purchase process. That being said, most of them can be easily evaluated before committing to a purchase. If you are looking for quick insight into how long a product will last, the container’s expiration date will be listed. However, if you are curious about what might impact the product’s lifespan, there is plenty to cover. So, let us start by evaluating the things that impact the lifespan of CBD before you even purchase it.
What Affects CBD’s Shelf Life?
The shelf life of CBD is dependent on several factors that affect the product on a chemical level. Every aspect of the products’ manufacture impacts how long it will last before expiration, though you should never leave any product unused for too long. However, depending on some details behind how the product was made, you might be able to let it sit for a little longer when compared to similar items. One of the most critical details that factor into the shelf life of CBD products is the overall quality of the item.
While it should not need to be said, higher quality products will last longer compared to lesser counterparts. Though, what defines a high-quality product can be a challenge with something as young as medicinal CBD in the modern era.
One surefire way to verify the quality of the product you are considering is to analyze the ingredients used in the product. Unfortunately, one issue that is common amongst medicinal supplements is that some manufacturers will cut certain corners to maintain low costs of production.
Every ingredient that goes into a product has an expiration date all its own, and the degradation of these ingredients can negatively affect the overall product. Even ingredients used to enhance the flavor of the supplement can drain the overall lifespan of a product.
However, the ingredients also extend to the cannabis plant used in the production of the CBD supplement you are using. For example, the way it was grown, the environment it was grown in, etc. Therefore, subpar cannabis will result in a supplement that will expire much faster than it should.
Another detail that affects the expiration date of your CBD supplement is the process used to extract the CBD from the cannabis plant in the first place. Certain extraction methods risk destabilizing or damaging the CBD before it gets refined into the product. As a result, the unstable CBD expires faster than stable products would.
Other, more mundane factors can change the expiration date of your CBD product. For example, the type of bottle used in storing the CBD can directly extend or reduce the product’s shelf life. Specifically, those specialized amber medicine bottles are ideal because it protects the product from UV exposure. The bottle’s storage is equally essential since certain elements can affect the supplement’s stability even when safely sealed in its container. Finally, the ambient temperature at which you store the CBD supplement also impacts shelf life.
Now that we understand what might impact the shelf life of your CBD, we can consider the ways you can verify this information to determine better how long the product you want to buy will last. Fortunately, a few tips can help you figure that out with minimal issues.
How to Secure the Shelf Life
Since many aspects of CBD production impact the end product’s shelf life, determining the methods and resources employed by the producer is essential. However, you might be thinking that this kind of information is not readily available to the average consumer. In that regard, you are mistaken.
Given the significance of CBD in the medical world and the lack of oversight from the FDA regarding retail instances of the substance, most manufacturers have found that reassuring their customer base is important. To that end, the most reliable of them have elected to offer supplementary information to their products.
Chief among these resources are certificates of analysis (COA). COAs are copies of the results of analyses conducted on the product by certified laboratories. They offer exact information about the ingredients used in the product, including the concentration of each one. Being sure of this information can help you assess whether or not the ingredients being used are of high quality and therefore promote longer shelf lives or of low quality that diminishes how long the product can survive. However, this information is not the only thing you need.
Earlier, you might recall that we discussed the extraction method for the CBD affects its shelf life. This is why, amongst major producers, the gold standard has become carbon dioxide extraction. Not only does CO2 extraction maximize the concentration of CBD extracted from the cannabis plant, but it also maintains the substance’s stability. So, checking to see if the producer employed the CO2 method can be an excellent way to ascertain whether or not the product will reliably keep.
You will also want to keep an eye out for the type of bottle the product is being stored in. As we mentioned before, the amber medicine bottles more effectively protect the CBD from elements like sunlight. So, purchasing a bottle of CBD that is not kept within such a bottle means you will likely have an expiration date that comes sooner rather than later. This more or less wraps up the producer-side factors you need to keep an eye out for.
Verifying the COA and extraction method will give you great insight into the product’s potential lifespan. The rest has more to do with your upkeep of the product once you have purchased it.
Before, we mentioned that storage of your product is vital to extend its shelf life and protect it against the elements. Excess light can accelerate the degradation of the bottle’s contents and leave you with an expired product all too quickly. You should store your CBD in a dark environment with a reasonably stable temperature range to circumvent this.
The ideal temperature for CBD is anywhere between 60° to 70° Fahrenheit (16° to 21° Celsius). Any hotter or any colder might also cause premature expiration of the product. So, making sure the storage area is protected from anything that changes the ambient temperature is paramount to protecting the integrity of the product. If you follow this information, you should find that your product will last until the printed expiration date or even a little past it. If it has expired, you will likely want to double-check for any indicators.
How to Tell if CBD Has Expired
Sometimes it can be difficult to tell when something has gone bad. Fortunately, there are a few signs given off by CBD that can help you determine if it has expired or not. Of course, you will have to open the bottle to verify, but when you do, check for the following:
- Smell: CBD is meant to have something of an earthy scent. Take a whiff and see how it smells. If it is unpleasant and pungent, you likely have a case of expired oil on your hands.
- Viscosity: While most CBD products come in oil form, it is not meant to be an overly viscous substance. It should be fairly clear and run smoothly. If the oil appears thick and dark, it has likely expired.
- Taste: Probably one of the more unpleasant tests is the taste test. Unflavored CBD oil will have something of an earthy or nutty taste to it. If it has expired, it will simply taste bad to the point of being unpalatable.
These tests can help you determine if your CBD has expired before its time and makes double-checking an essential factor. A quick thing to note, though, is that CBD oil that has been cooled will appear cloudy. Letting it sit at room temperature should clear it up and should not serve as an indicator of expiration. Aside from that, the only concern you might have is whether or not the consumption of expired CBD is harmful.
The good news is that expired CBD will not lead to health issues or complications. When CBD expires, it simply loses its potency and use as a health supplement. So, you should not have too much to worry about in regards to the expiration. The only real reason for making sure your products have not expired is to be sure that you are not wasting your time or money on a product that will not yield any results.
X-perience CBD
CBD is far from the most fragile supplement in the world, but even it is subject to expiration if not properly maintained or produced. Keeping an eye out for quality products is only half the battle as you need to store them properly. However, doing so will enable you to keep your unused CBD products for up to two years.
As we said, we do not recommend letting it sit for too long as the potency goes down after a while. However, there should not be too much rush if you follow the proper steps. Finding a reliable vendor for your CBD products is all that stands in your way.
To that end, we at Neuro XPF invite you to peruse our catalog. We offer an assortment of CBD products ranging from oils to gummies to vape fluid, so you can enjoy it any way you like. We also offer all the information you need to make a safe decision when purchasing one of our products. Our COAs offer information on a batch-by-batch basis so that you will know the ingredients of entire lots rather than individual bottles. Our products will ensure that you enjoy the effects CBD has to offer and keep for a long time. So, check out our website and x-perience the best CBD in the game.
Do you have any questions or concerns about the shelf life of CBD? Are you concerned that your CBD product may have expired, but you’re not fully sure? Is there anything that we mentioned in today’s article that you would like a little more clarification on? If you answered yes to any of these questions, please feel free to drop us a line at any time! We would be more than happy to assist you on your CBD journey however we possibly can! You can find our contact information right over here, for whenever you may possibly need it!