If you’re new to trying cannabidiol (CBD), shopping for it can be a little more unusual than when you’re buying other products. As a relatively new supplement, it isn’t as common to find in regular stores and pharmacies. Due to its long history being an illegal product, the CBD industry is still fresh, and there are no long-standing companies with hard-earned reputations for quality among consumers.
For this reason, it can be tricky when you buy CBD for the first time, and you may not be able to find many recommendations for the best stores or brands. Here are some good tips to help you find good quality CBD products when you shop around.
1. Shopping Online
There are likely not going to be many brick-and-mortar stores that will sell any CBD products close to you, unless you live in a large city. You can try searching online for the locations of stores or dispensaries near you. Dispensaries are stores that specialize in cannabis products, including CBD. This Scarborough dispensary is an example.
You can also shop online, either buying directly from the manufacturers of the CBD products, retailers that are purely online, or stores that have an online component for their business. This can make it easier for you to have access to a wider assortment of CBD products and brands, so you can find something that suits your needs and tastes.
2. Look for Lab Test Results
Once you find a way to purchase the CBD you want, you can start looking at specific products to see if it’s good quality. The best way to check this is to look at its lab test certification results. All reputable manufacturers will show what is called a “certificate of analysis” or COA. A COA shows the results of a third-party lab test that assesses the quality and concentration of the CBD in a product.
If you see a CBD product that does not include a COA, it’s best to avoid it. With a COA, you will know if the concentration level is accurate, so you get your money’s worth. Most CBD products will base the price in part on the level of concentration — the higher the amount of CBD in the product, the more expensive it is.
3. Check Reviews
The final thing to check is to look up the reviews for the brand of the product you’re looking at. Having a COA is a good start, as it will tell you of the quality of the CBD used in their products as far as its potency is concerned. However, there are other qualities that a product can have, especially if the CBD is only one ingredient or component of it.
Things like topicals, edibles, drinkables, and vape products will all have other elements to be concerned of. Reading reviews for the brands will help you see how other past customers consider the quality of the products to be. It will also help you see if there were problems that some people had, and how the brand dealt with complaints.
With these three tips, you’ll be better equipped to shop around for your first CBD products. As you do it more often, you’ll find products and brands that you like and trust. You will also become more familiar with product packaging to ascertain a product’s overall quality.
