How To Choose The Best CBD Product For You: It's All About Concentration

The following post was written and/or published as a collaboration between Benzinga’s in-house sponsored content team and a financial partner of Benzinga.

By Ellese McKenney, via CBDistillery.

Customers may often find themselves confused by labeling practices currently in the CBD industry. There are many companies that focus solely on total CBD content and label their products accordingly. As a result, many CBD users believe they are getting more CBD than they actually are. Other companies are misleading customers who don’t understand the significance of CBD concentration by selling large bottles of tincture that contain little CBD. You can protect yourself from making an unfortunate purchasing decision when you know how to spot questionable sales practices and misleading product labels.

The Different Tiers of CBD Concentration 

When selecting a CBD oil tincture, there are a significant number of variables to consider. It’s important to pay attention to how many milligrams of CBD are in the product and the amount of CBD oil in the bottle.

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Most CBD oil tinctures contain anywhere from 250 mg to 5000 mg of CBD per bottle. The concentration levels generally fall into one of the following tiers:

• Low Concentration: 250 – 500 mg Per Bottle

When you first start using CBD, it’s important to start with a low serving, increasing the amount incrementally until you find your best serving size. Since effectiveness depends on a variety of factors, a serving size that’s right for someone else may not be right for you. While a full dropper (approximately 1 mL) is commonly recommended on product labels, you may find that amount to be more or less than you need. That’s why most novice CBD users begin with a low concentration of CBD. A 30ml bottle of a 250 mg tincture contains 8 mg of CBD per 1 mL serving, which is a great place to start. 

• Medium Concentration: 1000 – 2000 mg Per Bottle

The average daily CBD user is likely to move up to a tincture with medium CBD concentration, such as a tincture containing 1000-2000 mg of CBD per bottle. A 30 mg bottle of CBD oil that contains 1000 mg of CBD contains 33 mg per dropper. Once an ideal serving size is established, many customers prefer to purchase a medium concentration product for the overall cost savings and convenience of using less CBD oil per serving.

• High Concentration: 2500-5000 mg Per Bottle

High potency CBD tinctures are most often purchased by experienced CBD users who prefer a higher concentration of CBD per serving. Tinctures of high concentration are not generally recommended for new users, but many customers eventually prefer highly concentrated tinctures to slash the cost of daily CBD use.

How CBD Labels May Prove Misleading

Before purchasing a CBD oil tincture, it’s important to be aware of some of the common product labeling practices used to take advantage of inexperienced customers. Some companies will place a low concentration of CBD in a large bottle to prey on those looking to get more for their money, while others will leave out important product information like product content. To protect yourself from purchasing a disappointing product, pay attention to the following:

• Overall CBD Content

Many companies still rely on placing the total CBD content on a product label rather than breaking the numbers down by serving size. This can lead customers to believe they are getting more CBD per serving than they actually are. After all, 250 mg of CBD in a small bottle sounds like a lot of CBD. Many people are used to purchasing products like beer or wine where the 5 percent alcohol concentration remains consistent regardless of bottle size, but CBD does not work that way. A 1000 mg tincture contains 1000 mg of CBD in the entire bottle, whether that bottle holds 15 mL of tincture or 30 mL. It’s important to understand the amount of product as it relates to the amount of CBD.

• Cost Per Serving

When you are comparison shopping for the best price, it’s important to consider the cost per serving to identify the best value product. If you are finding a comparatively low-cost product in a large bottle, consider how much of the product you would need to take in order to achieve the concentration of CBD you are looking for. To determine the amount of CBD per serving, divide the number of total mg of CBD in the bottle by the amount of CBD you want per serving. Let’s use 30 mg as an example: A 1000 mg bottle contains 33 30 mg servings (1000 ÷ 30 = 33). You can calculate the cost per serving by dividing the price by the number of servings in the bottle.

The Effects of Not Knowing the Correct Concentration

If you don’t know the concentration of CBD in your product, you have no way of knowing how much CBD you are taking. Even if the CBD concentration is specified, you will want to look at the third-party test results to confirm your tincture is as potent as the manufacturer claims. Not knowing the CBD concentration could have significant consequences, including:

• Wasted Money

Not knowing the CBD concentration of the products you select places you at risk of purchasing a product that may not be right for you. If you are taking less CBD than you realize, you may wonder why you are not noticing any effect. If you are unknowingly purchasing a higher concentration, you could be taking significantly more CBD per serving than you realize. Taking too much or too little can be a waste of money.

• Wasted CBD

If you are not paying attention to the cannabinoid content you could be wasting your CBD by using more than you need or buying products more often than necessary. You could also be wasting CBD if you are simply taking the serving size recommended on the product label without taking the time to determine the best serving size for your needs. Once you know the specified CBD concentration and your ideal serving size you can avoid wasting CBD.

• Improper Serving Size 

Since CBD comes in varying concentrations; if you don’t know the concentration you could be taking the wrong serving size. If you normally take a full dropper of a 500 mg tincture, a full dropper of a 250 mg bottle is not an equivalent. To get the same amount of CBD from a 250 mg bottle as a 500 mg bottle, you would need to consume two full droppers for the same effect.

Choosing Properly Labeled Products

To protect yourself from purchasing an inferior product, it’s essential to stay away from CBD tinctures labeled in vague terms like “high concentration,” or “extra strength.” If the amount of CBD in the bottle (either per serving or per bottle) is not specified, the CBD oil tincture is not likely to have enough CBD to be of any value.

When you select a hemp-derived CBD oil tincture from CBDistillery™, you will see the concentration of CBD per serving clearly indicated on each product label. You can also find the total CBD content per bottle on our site. In general, each serving of CBD tincture is one full dropper (1 mL), and each bottle contains 30 mL of product, which equates to 30 servings. Multiplying the number of mg of CBD per serving by 30 will also tell you the total CBD content.

Verifying CBD Concentration with CBDistillery™

At CBDistillery™, we clearly state the CBD content per serving on all of our CBD oil tincture product labels, and the total cannabinoid content per product on our site. When you know what to look for on the label of a CBD oil tincture, it’s much easier to find the right product for your needs. It’s also much easier to determine the best value for your money. The higher the CBD concentration, the less CBD oil you will need per serving.

Understanding the significance of CBD concentration and the importance of detailed product labels makes it easier to find the best product for your needs. For full spectrum CBD tinctures, 0% THC tinctures, CBD topicals, capsules, and vape products, visit CBDistillery™. All CBDistillery™ hemp-derived CBD products are tested by an independent lab to ensure the consistency, purity, and potency of the products we offer.

Useful? Decided?

Get your CBD oils here:

Low Concentration: 250 – 500 mg Per Bottle

Medium Concentration: 1000 – 2000 mg Per Bottle

High Concentration: 2500-5000 mg Per Bottle

The preceding article is from one of our external contributors. It does not represent the opinion of Benzinga and has not been edited.

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The preceding post was written and/or published as a collaboration between Benzinga’s in-house sponsored content team and a financial partner of Benzinga. Although the piece is not and should not be construed as editorial content, the sponsored content team works to ensure that any and all information contained within is true and accurate to the best of their knowledge and research. This content is for informational purposes only and not intended to be investing advice.