Don’t Buy CBD Vape Juice Without Reading This Checklist

By  //  October 3, 2021

If you’re a CBD user or are considering trying CBD, you’re undoubtedly aware of the fact that CBD vape juice is quickly becoming one of the most popular CBD products on the market. One reason for that is the easy accessibility of vaping as an option for using CBD.

In the past, CBD vaping wasn’t always easy to do. Many people resorted to vaping powdered CBD isolate in dry herb vaporizers – an expensive solution. Today, though, you can easily find CBD vape juice formulated for use in any e-liquid vaping device. All that you need to do is buy an inexpensive vape pen, load the tank with CBD e-liquid and enjoy.

The second reason why so many people have turned to vaping for their daily dose of CBD is because vaping is the quickest and most efficient option for getting the CBD into your system. Inhaling CBD is more efficient because it bypasses the first-pass metabolism of the liver. Inhalation also has the benefit of being much faster than waiting for the CBD to enter the bloodstream through the digestive system.

Before you buy any CBD vape juice, though, you should know that the quality can vary greatly from one product to the next. Some companies are simply more dedicated than others when it comes to providing a great customer experience. So, are you ready to try CBD vaping? Don’t buy CBD vape juice without reading this simple 4-point checklist.

1. Determine the Source of the CBD Oil

The first thing that you need to know before you buy any CBD vape juice is where the CBD oil used to make the vape juice comes from. You need to know this because China is the world’s biggest hemp producer, and the nation isn’t exactly known for having the most stringent health and safety regulations. An additional problem with buying hemp products sourced from China is that a large portion of the country’s soil suffers from toxic heavy metal pollution.

That’s an especially serious concern if you’re buying hemp products because hemp tends to draw heavy metals, pesticides, fungicides and other contaminants out of the soil. Thus, hemp grown in polluted soil is likely to show the effects of that pollution. 

The best producers of CBD vape juice in the UK and other countries understand that if you want top-quality CBD oil, it all starts with hemp grown in healthy soil. Obtaining the proper licenses for hemp growing in regions such as the United States, the United Kingdom and Europe isn’t easy, and complying with the requirements necessary for receiving an organic farming certification is likewise extremely expensive.

The benefit, though, is that you have a purer and safer product. A good CBD vape juice brand will pay a bit extra for hemp grown in a region that’s more tightly regulated.

2. Determine How the CBD Oil Is Extracted

The next thing you need to know before buying CBD vape juice from a given brand is how that brand extracts the CBD oil from its hemp. Most CBD oil brands contract this work out to large hemp processing companies, which is perfectly acceptable – but the CBD vape juice brand should still be able to provide all the details of the extraction process.

Today, the safest and most common method for extracting CBD oil is called supercritical extraction. This extraction method releases the CBD oil from the hemp flowers by shooting pressurized carbon dioxide through the flowers. It’s the safest method for extracting CBD oil because there are no harsh solvents that could potentially get through the extraction process and end up in the finished good. 

The alternative to supercritical extraction is mixing the hemp flowers with a solvent such as ethanol. Solvent-based CBD oil extraction is cheaper than supercritical extraction and produces a higher yield, but it isn’t the extraction method that’s best for consumers because it could potentially leave trace solvents in the final product.

3. Determine How the CBD Oil Is Tested for Purity

As you’ve learned from reading the previous two sections of this article, the potential presence of contaminants is a major concern when you buy CBD vape juice. Regardless of what a given CBD brand may say about its products, it’s rare for any CBD brand to have complete control over its entire supply chain. In most cases, the company that sells the final product isn’t growing the hemp or performing the CBD oil extraction.

The only way for a CBD brand to confirm the purity and potency of its products is by sending those products out for laboratory testing – and you should only buy CBD vape juice from a brand that’s happy to share the results of those tests with consumers.

At the absolute minimum, any CBD brand should be able to provide test results proving that the amount of CBD in a bottle of CBD vape juice is the same as the amount stated on the label. However, some brands go even further by publishing tests showing that their products contain no residual pesticides, heavy metals, solvents or microbiological contaminants.

4. Determine the Ingredients of the CBD Vape Juice

So far, this article has focused on the things that you need to know in order to verify the quality of the CBD in a brand’s CBD vape juice. That, however, is just one of potentially several ingredients a bottle of CBD e-liquid may contain. The two most common ingredients of CBD vape juice are CBD isolate and propylene glycol.

That’s because CBD isolate dissolves easily in propylene glycol, creating an emulsified blend that doesn’t need to be shaken between uses. CBD vape juice may also contain vegetable glycerin, which enhances the e-liquid’s cloud production and mouth feel. Finally, many CBD vape juices contain food-grade natural or artificial flavors that make the vaping experience more pleasant.

The two ingredients that you should never see in CBD vape juice are vitamin E and any type of oil. Oil-based ingredients are not considered safe for inhaling. Before you buy any CBD e-liquid, you want to be certain that the maker uses no oils in its products.