What's the Strongest CBD Oil - and Does it Matter?
Sabina King on Jun 19th 2019
If you are taking CBD or want to start, you might be searching for the strongest CBD oil. There are a lot of factors that goes into determining the strength of a CBD oil – and though it might come as a surprise, it’s not as simple as how much CBD is in the bottle.
In this article, we examine:
- How to determine the strength of CBD oil and why the strength matters
- Why bioavailability matters when searching for the strongest CBD oil
- Deciding if you need the strongest CBD oil or another strength
- Figuring out the dosage of CBD that's right for you
Do I really need the strongest CBD oil?
The answer to whether or not you really need the strongest CBD oils comes down to the reason why you’re taking CBD in the first place. If you’re taking CBD oil for wellness, then you probably don’t need the strongest oil. It may make sense to give your immunity the strongest boost or achieve the strongest stress relief by taking the strongest CBD – but that’s not quite how CBD works.
First of all, if you’re a beginner to CBD, your body has never been exposed to it before. If you take the strongest CBD oil as a starter, it will flood your endocannabinoid system. Like we said earlier, there have been no documented overdoses of CBD oil, but you could end up making your body desensitized to it, which defeats the purpose of taking CBD in the first place. Moreover, the strongest CBD oils are also priced higher than less potent ones. If you grow accustomed to taking the strongest dose, you’ll be shelling out a lot of money regularly to maintain your CBD intake. On the other hand, if you start with a low dose, you could actually discover what many researchers call ‘reverse tolerance’ to CBD.
What is reverse tolerance to CBD?
Reverse tolerance is also called drug sensitization, and this process isn’t unique to CBD. Even with some prescription antidepressants or antibiotics, an initial dose is prescribed to combat the condition, after which the patient can move to a much lower ‘maintenance dose’. Once CBD has increased the sensitivity of endocannabinoid receptors and increased the number of endocannabinoids as well, you may find that you get increasing health benefits from no increase in dosage. This is a good sign that you can reduce your dosage. The best way to identify and reach reverse tolerance of CBD oil is by starting low and slowly increase your dosage until you find clear benefits.
Of course, how long this takes to occur will vary from person to person. Someone with a very imbalanced endocannabinoid tone may take longer to reach their level of reverse tolerance to CBD. Someone taking a stronger dose of CBD for pain relief may find that they do not build up reverse tolerance to CBD oil at all, particularly if the sources of their pain are varied. Nevertheless, reverse tolerance to CBD is exciting for users from a therapeutic and financial standpoint. It means that if you’re on the highest dose of CBD due to certain wellness requirements, you may not have to shell out money for the same dose forever.
Legal considerations when taking the strongest CBD oils
One thing to consider when buying stronger CBD oils is that CBD’s psychoactive cousin, THC is federally illegal. CBD, on the other hand, is 100% legal at the federal level, as long as it comes from hemp and not marijuana. Hemp plants by law contain less than 0.3% THC, while marijuana contains 4-20% THC. At lower concentrations, it’s unlikely that any THC would make its way to your CBD blend. However, at higher concentrations, it could be a risk. Certain stronger CBD oils, especially those prescribed for pain, have been found to contain traces of CBD and have caused problems with authorities. To make sure that you don’t end up in the same boat, if you’re buying the strongest CBD oil, make sure you purchase a brand that is THC-free (it should say so on the label). Go one step further and check the companies lab results (which we’ll expand on below) to ensure that the product genuinely doesn’t have any traces of THC. Hempure uses chromatography testing so that each product is 100% THC-free.
Finding the Best and Strongest CBD Oil
In order to find the strongest CBD oil, start by learning the labels. CBD tinctures are almost always labeled based on the total amount of CBD in the bottle rather than the amount of CBD per serving. The reason for this is because a serving size may vary from person to person. You might feel comfortable taking 1/4 of a dropper while someone else may take 1 full dropper (usually 1 ml).
Determining CBD Oil Strength
When you buy a CBD tincture:
- Find out the amount of CBD in the bottle. This is usually on the front label.
- Determine the size of the bottle.
- Confirm that 1 dropper is 1 ml.
- Divide the amount of CBD in the bottle by the size of the bottle.
Then you will know the amount of CBD per 1 ml of tincture. Read the CBD Tincture Guide to learn more.
Let's see how this works with Hempure CBD Drops:
The advantages of taking the highest potency CBD oil
There are several possible advantages to taking a stronger CBD oil, some of which can be argued as well. Ultimately, you can decide what’s right for you with adequate information and experimentation. First off, the strongest CBD oils can prove to be more effective for certain concerns, which we will expand on below. Lower strengths may not provide the same benefit. Secondly, one might argue that you need a smaller dose of CBD if you purchase a stronger CBD oil. For instance, as shown above, you’d only need one-third of a dropper of concentrated therapeutic oil to achieve the same result as a full dropper of therapeutic CBD oil.
The disadvantages of taking the highest potency CBD oil
As discussed above, you could end up desensitizing your body to CBD by flooding your endocannabinoid system with it. Moreover, at stronger doses, CBD could potentially neutralize certain enzymes in your liver. These enzymes are responsible for metabolizing many common prescription medications. If you’re on medication and plan to move onto the strongest CBD oil, make sure you discuss it with your physician first. At stronger doses, CBD may also make you feel sleepier, although this has not been reported by all CBD users.
Finding the Most Potent CBD Oil
As you can see, finding the highest potency CBD oil is not only about finding the highest number of CBD on the label. Additionally, there are two more factors to consider:
- Has it been third party lab tested?
- The bioavailability of the CBD
Has the manufacturer lab-tested their CBD oil?
While a CBD label may say the bottle contains a certain mg of CBD, this may not be true. And if the label is lying, there is no point in determining which is the stronger CBD oil! The FDA has found many brands of CBD on the market contain much less CBD than advertised. In some cases, the "CBD" products didn't contain any CBD at all! That's why it is imperative that any CBD product you consider using has done third party lab testing. Manufacturers can forgo third-party lab testing since it isn’t legally required and is pretty costly too. However, any manufacturer that cares about their brand will have its products lab-tested for potency and quality. This ensures the amount of CBD in the product as well as tests for other things like dangerous metals or chemicals. Third-party tests are the only way to ensure that you are actually buying the strongest CBD oil as the label suggests. All of Hempure products are third-party lab tested to ensure the highest quality.
What is the bioavailability of the CBD oil?
Not all vitamins are created equal, and certainly not all CBD products either. How CBD works on your system depends on the bioavailability of the CBD oil, which means how much CBD is actually reaching your endocannabinoid system? There are a few things that affect the bioavailability of your CBD.
The way you consume it is the most important. CBD oil drops mixed with food or water have the lowest bioavailability. Therefore, if you decide to take CBD mixed with food or beverages, you can increase how much your body absorbs by opting for a stronger oil. If you take your CBD oil drops sublingually (under the tongue), that greatly increases how much your body absorbs, which means you don’t necessarily need the strongest CBD oil. Vaping CBD offers the highest bioavailability since it enters the bloodstream through the lungs. When vaping, it makes sense to opt for the strongest CBD oil only if you’re sure you need it.
However, manufacturers can also do certain things to increase the bioavailability of their CBD oil. For instance, choosing a good carrier oil. Hempure uses MCT oil as a base for CBD, and since MCT oil is quickly metabolized, the CBD becomes more bioavailable. Essentially, even though bioavailability is determined in your body, the more bioavailable the product, the stronger the CBD.
What is the particle size of the CBD oil?
One of the main factors involved in bioavailability is the size of the particles. The smaller the size, the more easily your body absorbs it. Many people believe that liposomal CBD is the smallest form – and therefore the most bioavailable – but this is no longer true. While liposomal CBD is much more bioavailable than others, nano-eumlsified CBD is actually significantly easier for the body to absorb.
How Many Milligrams of CBD Should I Take?
There are a few key rules to consider when determining how many milligrams of CBD to take:
-
Everyone is different.
What works for your friends or family may not work for you. CBD can impact you differently depending on your diet, environment, genetic makeup, and your general lifestyle.
-
Start slow and work your way up.
Because each person is different, it is difficult to recommend a universal dosage that will work for everyone. Start with a low dosage and then increase it until you find a sweet that works for you. Some people can take 2 mg of CBD per day and experience tremendous benefits while others may need 100 mg or more to get the relief they seek.1
-
Record your experiences as you go.
If you start out the first week taking 10 mg of CBD daily, note how you feel and what you experience. Do you notice any difference? After that first week, you could try increasing the dosage amount to 20 mg of CBD per day. Again take note of the difference and write it down. Having a written record will allow you to accurately assess the changes that the CBD is producing and determine the proper dosage for you.
What are stronger CBD oils good for?
There are some situations in which you may want to reach for something stronger. Pain, high stress, lack of sleep for long periods of time and inflammation are all conditions in which the highest dose of CBD oil may be more helpful than a lower one. Athletes may also use higher doses of CBD oil for workout recovery. For general immune support, day to day stress relief, and healthy sleep support, you’d be just fine with a lower dose. It’s also interesting to note that at lower doses, CBD can actually be a stimulant. That’s why it’s important to start at a low dose with CBD – you could miss out on interesting effects if you jump straight to the highest strength!
Strongest CBD Oil Options
As you will see, our strongest CBD oils are all packaged in purple.
Hempure balms are some of the strongest CBD balms on the market. While most CBD balms offer only 50-500 mg CBD per container, Hempure balms come in 750 mg and 1400 mg.
Can You Take Too Much CBD Oil?
If you're taking the strongest CBD oil, then at some point you might wonder if there's such a thing as "too much". Fortunately, the answer seems to be no. There are no reported cases of overdoses. Further, one study discovered that some people were able to comfortably take up to 1500 mg of CBD daily without adverse effects.2
While this may be true, it is important to talk with your doctor if you’re using any other medications that could interact with CBD. While CBD is generally harmless, certain medications may cause adverse effects in combination with CBD. Always talk to your doctor before starting any new wellness product.
CBD is also not physically addictive. Unlike other substances like heroine, tobacco, or alcohol, CBD will not produce physical withdrawal symptoms if you stop taking it. Also, developing a CBD tolerance which forces you to take more of it is very unlikely. There are even some studies underway to examine if CBD can potentially help those struggling with addiction, particularly to painkillers.
Finding The Highest Potency CBD Oil
Finding the highest potency CBD oil is important when you’re getting starting with CBD. Because you want to be able to measure how much you’re taking and then increase that amount, you need to able to accurately determine what dosage you’re taking. Once you find out how much CBD is in the oil you have purchased, begin increasing the amount of CBD you’re taking until you get to an amount that works well for you. Have fun experimenting and determining what amount of CBD is the best for you.
