By Tim McCarthy
How do you buy your CBD oils? How do you source the value out of your supply chain?
Are you still buying your key CBD ingredient in a clear mason jar? The Ball Corporation has absolutely
gotten a brand boost from the popularity of their jars being used as a standard of measurement for hemp
and cannabis extract. Through sheer volume of use, the industry has gotten comfortable calling this wide
mouth quart jar a kilogram of CBD. It’s so far from reality, leads to confusion, and I can see my high
school science teacher rolling her eyes.
When we aren’t being exact with our wholesale ingredients, is it surprising that still, in 2021, 60%+ of
the products tested by news outlets, consumer protection groups, and Federal and State Regulators have
less CBD in the product than is advertised on the label? Not at all. Is it any wonder that there continues
to be distrust around this rising industry when the mainstream public continues to hear these reports?
Not at all.
So why can’t we use a quart-sized jar to represent a kilogram of CBD? Let’s go back to some basics:
A measure of Volume is not equivalent to a measurement of Weight, ever.
A measure of Weight of a Liquid is not equivalent to the Weight of Active Ingredient, ever.
Yet, many suppliers use these interchangeably and even more producers have no idea exactly how much
active ingredient they get in a CBD oil shipment. Whether you source by the mason jar or you buy by
the Kg of oil, there is still a potential problem here and you might not get what you thought:
WARNING: Math ahead
In an actual Kilogram of 57% CBD crude oil, you get ~570 grams of CBD. NOT 1000 grams of Active Ingredient CBD.
At 57% of Active Ingredient CBD, one will need 1.7544 kilograms of oil (1/0.57=1.75438596) to get 1,000 grams (Kg) of CBD. This means a producer needs 75% more oil than initially purchased to match the amount of Active Ingredient needed to formulate accurately.
The inconsistency is the main problem here - when suppliers are selling differently it leads to confusion
and mistakes. If the CBD industry wants to be accepted and trusted by the mainstream, we need to grow
up and start standardizing the way other industries do. Consumer Packaged Goods, CPG products, are
required to label and sell by the “Active Ingredient.” Since you have to label and sell by Active
Ingredient, why not source solely by the Active Ingredient?
All United Natural Hemp Extract products are sold by the kilogram of active ingredient, not the
kilogram of oil. Browse our product offerings here.