When you decide to use CBD oil for medical reasons, you might notice that it never contains more than 0.3% THC. Do you wonder why? The largest reason why is because it isn’t allowed to contain more than that based on federal guidelines. Because of these guidelines, makers are required to dilute the product to meet them.
Shouldn’t that affect the CBD concentration? Well, it does. Dilution is necessary, but also tampers with the rest of the contents of the CBD oil, so the CBD content is lower, too. How do they do it?
How do the makers get the CBD oil?
When starting out making CBD products for commercial sale, makers will pull “crude” CBD oil from hemp plants. There are two different methods to extract the oil, solvent and carbon dioxide, but the oil comes with higher concentrates of THC and other unwanted components in it, so dilution is necessary for keeping the product within federal guidelines.
Carbon dioxide extraction works by using cold, pressurized carbon dioxide gas to pull the oils from the plant. It’s the most commonly used method because it’s the safest with the purest yield of oil. It also gets pretty expensive, though, so there are other available methods for extraction.
Solvent extraction involves using different chemicals to remove the oils from the plants but isn’t the safest way to do so. This method utilizes substances like alcohol and butane to pull oil from the plant. By submerging the plant in the liquid, you can extract the oils effectively while maintaining potency. The problem with solvent extraction is that it may pull undesirable components or leave solvent in the oil without proper treatment.
Crude CBD oil can contain 2%-4% THC, which is pretty far above the 0.3% federal limit. Such high THC content could cause psychoactive effects that are undesirable in the use of CBD oil. Producers need to dilute the product to remove unwanted components, such as the solvent used to pull the oils from the hemp plant and contain the THC content.
What do they use to dilute the oil?
Many producers of CBD oil use MCT oil. MCT can be found in substances such as coconut oil. It is very easy for the digestive system to handle and can enter your bloodstream quickly. This makes it ideal for diluting CBD oil because it is meant to absorb into your blood for fast effectiveness.
Mixing the CBD oil with MCT oil can do just the trick. Say you begin with a product that is half CBD, but contains 3% THC. You have to be able to dilute it enough so that the THC content comes down to 0.3%. You have to do the math to figure out how much you need to dilute it.
How to figure out the dilution ratios
To figure out the math of diluting CBD oil, you must determine how to take the content of THC present in the oil and dilute it down to 0.3%. If you’re handling oil that has 3% THC, and you need to dilute it by a factor of 10. That means you’ll do the math at 3% divided by 10.
If you calculate 3/10, you get 0.3. An easier way to handle this particular equation would be to simply move the decimal point one place to the left. That is equal to a change of 10 because each space is equal to a multiple of ten.
If you’re working with a higher THC concentration, such as 5%, you can figure that the factor you’ll need to use will be higher. To dilute 5% to 0.3% or lower, you could use a factor of 20. If you calculate 5/20, you come out with 0.25%. This meets the federal guidelines for THC content in CBD oil.
If you were to mix 9 grams of MCT oil with 1 gram of the oil that is 50% CBD and 3% THC, it would dilute the THC enough to be within the limits, but also changes the concentration of the CBD from 50% to 5% because of the 10% reduction. This means that you’ll need to use more oil to achieve the desired results, but you won’t need to concern yourself with the THC content.
Why does CBD oil need to be diluted?
Not only is dilution necessary to cut the THC content down to legal levels, but it is impossible to have oil that doesn’t contain THC at all. While dilution can take care of the levels of THC present, it also affects the CBD content. There is no way around that.
Some makers have been able to extract a lot of the THC content so that there isn’t as much dilution necessary, but this isn’t possible in all instances. Creating oils that have higher concentrations of CBD with lower concentrations of THC is possible, but not easily done. The higher the concentration of THC is, the more the oil needs to be diluted.
Summarizing dilution of CBD oil
Many CBD users look for a product that will be most effective without the need for huge dosages, but legal limits make it harder to find. Makers of CBD oils that users can find in stores need to dilute their oil to meet limits while still creating an effective product. Diluting the oil requires some math work, but is possible for producers to calculate.
While the oil may be diluted, it will still help you. If it isn’t quite diluted enough for your needs, you can easily dilute it at home with some simple coconut oil. If you’re a more advanced user or you work with manufacturing it, knowing how to properly dilute your CBD oil can make a world of difference.
The people that create your CBD oil put in lots of work to make sure that you get an effective product without having to worry about the THC. Mixing the CBD oil with the MCT oil creates a product that absorbs into your bloodstream very quickly so that the effects are noticeable in a short time frame.