A wise man once said, “You get what you pay for.” This idiom has served as the basis for quality control for decades and a way to help consumers avoid shoddy products. This ageless expression has enabled many people to actively avoid products or services that might fall short of expectation by not relying solely on the price tag to decide. For most people, this expression has been used when purchasing furniture, retaining a service provider like gardeners, and even purchasing food from certain restaurants. However, recently the idiom has become applicable to purchasing certain medicinal and nutritional supplements.
CBD has become one of the leading health supplements in the world. It has become renowned for its many benefits for the overall health of those who take it. It has had to shed a bit of a negative reputation associated with the plant from which it is harvested. However, quality CBD is an extremely important facet of this as quality tends to correlate to the cost of these supplements. Therefore, while it might be tempting to opt for the cheaper CBD product to save some funds, you might find it a mistake later on. We hope to illustrate the significant differences between cheap and expensive CBD products with this article.
Cheaper CBD Might Contain Unwanted Compounds
Safety is the most essential and urgent consideration when deciding on a CBD product based on price. A cheaper option is a highly appealing prospect to many in a world where finances are in short supply. However, the price tag reflects the resources that go into the refinement of the CBD itself. Specifically, the contents of the CBD supplement might not be as well regulated as they ought to be given the other compounds readily available in cannabis plants. The fact is that cannabidiol, otherwise known as CBD, is only one of the compounds harvested from cannabis and one of the very few authorized for medicinal use.
As a result, the production of CBD products requires extensive scrutiny to ensure that nothing unpleasant ends up on the shelves. One of the more infamous compounds found in CBD is tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the psychoactive compound of cannabis that serves as the signature for marijuana use.
Given that CBD products are meant to be health supplements, virtually all vendors of CBD products who prioritize quality will take great pains to ensure that the content of THC in the product is at or below the legal limit of 0.3%. However, those who want to get their product on the shelf might forgo the process of refining the CBD until it is free of THC.
This means that your health supplement might have an intoxicating effect that is best avoided. While this might be preferable to certain demographics, those who genuinely want to use CBD to bolster their health might be less inclined to favor a cheaper product that will induce psychoactive effects when you are only trying to manage your pain or nausea. So, when perusing CBD products, consider that the price might make for a less desirable product.
That said, there will also exist CBD isolate products that undergo an additional process to eliminate the THC from the chemical makeup. However, this process can also eliminate other beneficial compounds that enhance the effects of the CBD without intoxication effects and will cause a markup in the price. This “premium” product will advertise itself as better but might be less effective due to the excessive refinement it has undergone.
Cheaper CBD Might Contain Toxins
Keeping in line with safety when consuming CBD supplements, there are far worse contaminants than a naturally occurring compound from cannabis. While THC might induce an intoxicating effect, it is not liable to leave you worse off in terms of your health. However, plenty of other threats might turn your CBD supplement into a hazard rather than a help. The reason is that cheaper products mean cheaper production methods where cutting costs take priority over ensuring that the content of the CBD is not liable to leave you ill. One of the biggest concerns stems from the fact that CBD comes from the cultivation of cannabis plants.
Plant cultivation has long been tainted by chemical products that can cause severe adverse effects when consumed. Specifically, we refer to pesticides. Unfortunately, the regulation of cannabis cultivation is not heavily overseen by the FDA, so those growing cannabis with fewer financial resources will likely take advantage of pesticides in a concentration that might yield negative health consequences. Most pesticides are ultimately harmless when used within the product’s limitations. However, these pesticides can be toxic in excess and leave you sick or even hospitalized.
Remember that just because a product is more expensive does not automatically make it more reliable either. While more expensive products are far less likely to contain anything toxic, you could be overcharged for something as effective as those with a more evened-out price. However, the cheaper products are more liable to contain more unpleasant ingredients from lesser producers.
Cheaper products mean that the cultivators have fewer resources to protect the cannabis plants without relying too heavily on pesticides. Pesticides are far from the only toxins that can negatively impact the quality and safety of the CBD. However, these other toxins are harder to detect since they can occur without the grower’s knowledge unless they have the product and growth facilities tested for certain compounds.
Cheaper CBD Might Lack Appropriate Testing
Several contaminants can bleed into the refined CBD product if the ones growing the cannabis plants do not take the proper precautions. Microbial bacteria, heavy metals, and mycotoxins can lead to your CBD supplement being highly toxic or even lethal, depending on the contaminant. However, taking precautions or adjusting to account for these contaminants can be difficult if the group growing the cannabis is unable to fund tests to ensure the concentration of these substances is within acceptable limits as opposed to oversaturation leading to toxicity.
Cheaper products are designed solely for the benefit of turning a profit since the cultivators are unable to fund more advanced growth facilities and procedures. If the growers of cannabis are unaware, then there is no way their consumers will ever know either, making purchasing a cheaper and unverified product a considerable risk to those looking to improve their overall health.
However, price tags are not necessarily a sign of carelessness when it comes to the safety of a CBD product. There is a very simple tool that most, if not all, reputable CBD vendors use to ease the concerns of their customers while providing definitive evidence of the safety of their products. These are the certificates of analysis often attached to the product listing on their website or occasionally included in the packaging of retail products.
These COAs are copies of the results of laboratory-grade analysis of the CBD’s chemical profile. This means there will be a readout of each compound found in the product compared to the legal and healthy limits for each one so you can remain assured of the product’s safety and that it contains the concentration of CBD you are after. However, since the producers of the CBD need to pay to have their products analyzed regularly, those that offer lower prices are likely unable to afford such a service or are unwilling to spend money on it.
Keeping an eye out for a vendor that openly offers COAs for their product is the ideal way to be assured of quality and safety. Conversely, just because a CBD product is overly expensive does not make it less liable to contain contaminants. Verifying the COA will ensure that you are not being overcharged for a product that carries just as much risk as a cheaply manufactured one. However, there is still one significant facet to the differences between cheap CBD oil and expensive CBD oil.
Cheaper CBD Might Be Less Potent
There is nothing worse than spending money on a product that lacks the kick it needs to be an effective supplement. CBD is still a substance that requires a specific concentration to yield the beneficial effects that have made it so popular. However, regardless of CBD concentration, the compound itself needs to develop properly to have the same potency you would expect from a supplement. The plant itself needs to grow in ideal conditions so that every compound can circulate through it and develop correctly. Otherwise, the plant will suffer overall, and any derived substances will be weaker chemically.
The price factors into this sort of thing because the cheaper CBD will likely come from a facility unable to properly fund the cannabis plants’ growth. As a result, their CBD will be less potent, and they might even attempt to cut it with additives that diminish the overall quality of the CBD and leave it even less effective.
Therefore, CBD that is dirt cheap is more liable to have less potent effects when compared to traditionally priced CBD. Of course, no one wants a less potent product, and the previously mentioned COAs can help you determine how much CBD is present in the oil. However, the only real way to test the potency of a product is to try it.
That said, overly expensive products are not necessarily going to be more potent. In some cases, it retains the same level of potency as normally priced products and is only more expensive due to a peculiar refinement process. Although, more expensive products are more likely to have at least the potency necessary to reap the effects CBD is known for, whereas cheaper products are more likely to be duds.
X-perience CBD
Gauging the quality of CBD oil can be very difficult to do if you are not aware of what to be on the lookout for. CBD needs to be carefully cultivated to ensure that the contents are not toxic, not intoxicating, and are potent enough to be of help. The price tag can be an effective indicator of the level of quality you can expect from any given product, but it is far from the perfect filter.
The scale that can be applied in most cases is that cheaper products are less potent and more likely to contain unwanted byproducts and toxins. In contrast, more expensive products are no better than the standard price products and are given a higher price to account for a “premium.” The reality is that quality CBD oil will likely only cost between $40.00 to $60.00 at most. Anything higher will be an overpriced boondoggle, and anything absurdly lower will likely lack in quality.
Finding a quality product at a proper price might seem like a major challenge, but there is a solution. At Neuro XPF, we offer a wide assortment of CBD products, including CBD oil. Not only is our product reasonably priced, but every bottle comes with a COA from an accredited laboratory that will give you direct insight into the concentration of the different compounds and toxins that exist within. In addition, our product is safe, effective, and easy to use without you having to worry about suffering from poor manufacturing procedures or unnecessary premiums. So, why not visit our website today and peruse our wares so you can x-perience the best CBD in the game.
Do you have any potential questions or concerns about the differences between cheap and expensive CBD oil? Was there anything that we mentioned in today’s article that you would like a little more clarification on? Do you have any other CBD-related questions? If you answered yes to any of these questions, or you’re simply curious about something else CBD-related, please feel free to drop us a line! The world of CBD can be quite overwhelming and a bit confusing, especially if you’re new to it all. We would be more than happy to answer any of your questions, clear up any of your concerns, and assist you on your CBD journey however we possibly can! We greatly look forward to assisting you!