When making CBD products like tinctures, powders, and concentrates, manufacturers must use complicated extraction methods to get the CBD into its correct form. Extracting CBD from raw hemp isn’t an easy process, and it’s one that only the most experienced professionals — with advanced equipment — should attempt. 

Currently, you’ll come across CBD products with various extraction methods. But, which one is best? What is the best extraction method for CBD? Don’t worry! Today, Rena’s Organic is taking a deep dive into hemp extraction, helping you understand which methodology is best for your high-quality CBD products. Let’s get started. 

What is CBD Extraction?

Before we talk about the different types of extraction methods, let’s talk about what CBD extraction is in the first place.

When you’re shopping for CBD tinctures, for example, the product comes in an oil-based form. So, how does one get the CBD looking this way? Through CBD extraction!

We’ll provide more specific details later, but professionals use advanced technology to separate the cannabinoids from the plant material itself, typically using a solvent of some kind. Once the plant material is gone, extractors will go through rigorous processes to purify the remaining material, transforming it into an oil-based substance with the help of carrier oils like coconut or MCT oil or hemp seed oil.

Thus, when people discuss extracting CBD from hemp, they’re referring to the process of literally taking cannabinoids out of the cannabis plant material and isolating it. 

Sometimes, extractors will leave the CBD oil containing other compounds like trace amounts of THC, minor cannabinoids, and terpenes, creating a full-spectrum CBD extract. Others choose to filter out the THC entirely, leaving consumers with a broad-spectrum extract option. Finally, manufacturers can go all the way and completely isolate just CBD, making an extract that’s 99% pure. While these are good for those who just enjoy CBD, they won’t be as effective as broad or full-spectrum blends. 

In general, CBD extraction is quite a complex process that manufacturers are still mastering today. Every year, we’re learning more about the efficacy of certain extraction methods, finding new ways of perfecting this complicated process.

The Many Types of Hemp Extraction Methods

Now that you’re familiar with what CBD extraction is, let’s talk about the different methodologies you may come across when shopping for CBD. Then, once we’ve talked about the major options, we will let you know which one is best. 

It’s important to note that there is more than just these four extraction methods. As we mentioned, this is a process that changes daily, and there are even more options for professionals these days. However, these four extraction methods are easily the most popular, and likely the types you’ll find when buying CBD. 

Subzero Extraction

One of the newest — and best — extraction methods on the market today is cold sub-zero extraction. In this process, professionals will freeze the hemp plants itself within a solvent like ethanol. The plant material is then kept at sub-zero temperatures for about a day before professionals can filter and purify it. 

This type of extraction process is a wonderful way of better preserving plant compounds and keeping the molecular structure of the oil intact.  It’s important to know whether the extractor is using only a kosher or food grade ethanol for this process.

CO2 

Another largely popular extraction method is supercritical CO2 CBD extraction. Here, professionals will take CO2 and change it from a gas to a liquid. Then, they grind the hemp flower itself in into a super fine powder and compress it into a chamber. From there, the hemp powder essentially is soaked with CO2, eventually turning back into a gas substance and leaving behind plant oils. To fully purify and rid the crude oil of anything it doesn’t need, it then goes through a heating process called winterization until it’s ready to be sold. 

Though popular and somewhat clean, supercritical extraction processes leave too much room for error or residual solvents. Many companies cut corners with this extraction process, leaving you with products that aren’t nearly as pure as they claim. This is where third-party lab-test results come into play, though. 

No matter what type of CBD product you’re buying, you want to ensure it is quality. Thus, check out a product’s third-party lab-test results on the brand’s website before making an actual purchase. These results will show you if there are any residual solvents, toxins, or heavy metals still present in the blend. If you’re on a brand’s website and can’t find these test results, that’s the best indicator to look elsewhere. (Like to Rena’s!)

Butane

Along with CO2, other brands may choose to use butane or other residual solvent to blast or soak their plant material with. The process here is somewhat similar to that of CO2, only less purified. Here, hemp is quite literally “washed” with butane, destroying the plant and leaving behind butane-filled oil. Then, the substance undergoes more purification and filtration to rid it of the butane. However, there tends to be a significant amount still leftover in these products — typically called BHO (butane hash oil).  

If you’re sensitive to toxins and cannot risk consuming contaminated extracts, then stay away from products made with butane extraction. While some products may be safe and pure, it’s not always the case; so it’s best to be safe than sorry. 

Solventless

Finally, you may also come across products that don’t use solvents at all. Processes like these are the oldest, as rudimentary cannabis processes didn’t have the technology to extract cannabinoids the way we do today.

With solventless extraction processes, manufacturers will utilize either heat, pressure, or sifts to extract the oils from the plant itself. As you can imagine from the oldest form of hemp extraction, this isn’t always the most effective choice. You’re often damaging the plant compounds or not getting the full profile that you could. However, it is a good option if you’re dead-set on staying away from chemicals or alcohol of any kind in your CBD products.

Which Option is Best?

Out of all the extraction methods on the market, it appears as though cold sub-zero extraction methods are both the most efficacious and most pure. When you freeze the hemp flower, it helps to preserve the terpene profile of the plant. The more terpenes present in a product, the better it performs. 

Research has found that products with terpenes tend to produce a better result overall, as these compounds have their own benefits, too. 

Along with preserving terpenes, this kind of extraction process also helps to keep other, minor cannabinoids intact, too. Subzero extraction allows for higher levels of cannabinoids like CBG and CBC, which have their own benefits to your health and wellness. 

Additionally, when you use a sub-zero extraction process, you completely avoid the need for an additional heating process of winterization, which risks destroying valuable terpenes and cannabinoids.

Professionals don’t have to worry about any other complicated processes or extractions with this kind of methodology, either. Thus, the cold extraction completely protects the full-spectrum plant profile, far better than other extracts do, too. 

If you’re looking for the highest-quality, most potent CBD product on the market, you’re going to want to aim for products that have been subjected to a cold, sub-zero extraction process, as it is easily the best extraction method for CBD.

How to Extract CBD Using Subzero Extraction

Really quickly, we’re going to talk about how the sub-zero extraction process works in detail. When you hear about the steps, it becomes even clearer why this is the superior hemp extraction method. Let us explain. 

First, manufacturers take the hemp plant and soak it in food-grade ethanol in a freezer for 24 hours straight. Here, the temperature should be at 40 below zero. After the day has passed, the hemp material stays submerged in ethanol, but it leaves the freezing temperatures. 

Now, the hemp plant goes through a centrifuge where materials are separated and filtered thoroughly. From there, extractors will evaporate the alcohol substance using heat, ridding the product of any remaining solvent. There will be no leftover alcohol, but all of the terpenes and cannabinoids stay perfectly protected. 

Compared to CO2 extracted oil, subzero extraction produces an overall better, purer, and more effective product. Of course, your personal preference is up to you, but turning to subzero extraction is likely to give you a better CBD experience as a whole. 

Even though we’ve explained this extraction process in detail, it’s important to remember that this process is for professionals only. You cannot perform any sort of CBD extraction without proper equipment or in lab settings. 

Creating hemp seed oil extract is not a simple process, and the machines they utilize cost tens of thousands of dollars. If any step is done incorrectly, it can result in dangerous outcomes because of the chemical substances and volatility of it all. So, if you’re interested in making your own CBD extracts, don’t do it! Simply leave it up to the professionals like us here at Rena’s Organic CBD.

Why Rena’s Organic Uses a Subzero Extraction Process

Here at Rena’s Organic CBD, we utilize the sub-zero extraction process for our products for various reasons. In general, though, we want our products to be the best of the best, plain and simple. And we truly believe that there isn’t a better cannabis oil extract than one that comes from subzero extraction. 

We make almost all of our products using a high-quality full-spectrum blend, as we embrace the efficacy of the entourage effect. By using this type of extraction method, it helps us preserve these full-spectrum profiles even more, creating a perfect product that all consumers can enjoy.

If you’re interested in seeing the details surrounding our products and our subzero extraction process, you can check out our third-party lab-test results right on our website. This way, you can see exactly what we include in our products and just how pure our extraction method truly is.  

Finding the Highest-Quality CBD

When you are searching for high-quality CBD, it can sometimes be hard to differentiate what products are made well and which aren’t. But, that’s why you turn to Rena’s Organic: we make the search for top-shelf CBD easier than ever before.

Simply log on to our website and scroll through our huge selection of organic CBD products. You can pick out all the options that most appeal to you, reading about their ingredients and extraction method along the way. As we mentioned, we primarily utilize full-spectrum cannabis oil extract, but you can also find THC-free options on our site, too. It all depends on what you enjoy the most!

No matter what you’re looking for, we’ve got the perfect product option for you.

With Rena’s Organic, you can order your CBD products right from the comfort of your home. We will process and ship out your products the same day or within 72 hours of placing an order. This way, you don’t even have to wait long to get your hands on your favorite sub-zero extracted CBD product. We’ll ship it right to your home, ready for you to enjoy it whenever it arrives.

Understanding CBD Extraction With Rena’s Organic CBD

There you have it! Here at Rena’s Organic CBD, we want to make sure you have all CBD-related information possible. This way, you have a great understanding of the cannabinoid, where it comes from, and how we produce our products. We believe it’s essential for a CBD brand to have transparency with their customers, and that’s why we want to make it clear what our hemp extraction techniques are and why we use them. 

If you’re interested in learning more about CBD, other cannabinoids, or different consumption methods, we have you covered. Rena’s Organic CBD offers excellent information and resources surrounding practically any cannabis topic you can think of. Whether you want to know more about cannabis oil extracts, CBD extraction equipment, or even how to make hemp oil, let Rena’s Organic become your go-to source for cannabis and hemp information.