CBD Decarboxylation and Infusion {Infuse & Decarb CBD Flower EASILY!}

Much like the THC decarb process, there’s a lot of misinformation surrounding CBD. This is mainly due to the lack of data regarding decarbing CBD – and the fact that CBD does require different decarb conditions than THC in some cases.

You’ve been asking for more information on decarbing and infusing CBD to make inexpensive and effective CBD products at home. Without further ado, here’s a discussion of CBD activation and infusion along with testing results so you can see how easy it is to replicate the process. Lets dive right in!

THE BIG REVEAL: CBD dominant strains need either 1 or 2 cycles in your decarboxylator for full activation, depending on THC content.

CBD is a cannabinoid, just like THC, and it has a ton of health benefits. Unlike THC, CBD is non-intoxicating, which has helped its push into the mainstream and created a huge demand. You might even see CBD being sold at your local gas station or corner store! Although CBD is becoming more readily available, it is important to beware of fake CBD and CBD made in an industrial settings, both of which have been flooding the market. Thankfully, its easy to make your own CBD products and know exactly what material you are introducing to body or sharing with your loved ones.

Use your Nova for easy, AFFORDABLE, high quality CBD.

Effective CBD decarboxylation starts with knowing how much THC is present in the strain you're using. If there is more than 1% THC or THCA present in the strain, then one cycle in the decarboxylator will activate both the THC and CBD. However, if it is almost exclusively CBD, meaning less than 1% THCA or THC present, then two cycles are required to get the maximum amount of CBD activated.

Check out the testing results below to see the efficiency of decarbing one cycle in the decarboxylator with an exclusively CBD strain. One cycle results in a solid decarb of over 80%, but not full. Squeezing out that last bit of CBD from the CBDA for these strains requires a second cycle in the Nova, as you can see in the second "double decarb" results below.

The testing below shows this exclusively CBD strain before decarb, after one decarb cycle, and after two decarb cycles.

Does CBD need to be decarbed like THC?

You will notice that a lot of CBD flower looks very similar to THC dominant strains. You may not even be able to tell them apart. That being said, its the composition of the plant that you want to pay attention to: how much THCA and CBDA is in the material. That's also why its so important to use flower and products that come with actual testing results!

The strain used in this testing has over 11% potential CBD, which is over 110mg per gram. Just like THCA, CBDA needs to be decarbed to be transformed into bioavailable CBD. You follow the same process with the decarboxylator as when activating THC flower, concentrates, or rosin. Just place the flower in the machine and press the button to activate. But the decarboxylation process for CBD does differ from THC, depending on the cannabinoid composition of the strain. Specifically, it is dependent on how much THCA/THC is present.

So how do I know if my CBD needs 1 or 2 cycles to decarb?

It may surprise you to know that it is not necessarily about whether the strain is mostly CBD. There are plenty of high CBD strains that will fully decarb in one cycle. Those CBD strains also have significant amounts of THC.

However, if a CBD strain has less than that 1% THCA or THC, then you will want to run it through two cycles in the Nova (always letting your machine cool between cycles) to get the maximum amount of CBD.

If a strain has more than 1% THCA then it needs only one cycle in the Nova, regardless of much CBD it contains!

Check out our testing results below to see what happens after one cycle in the Nova with a strain containing less than 1% THCA. Although not full decarb, it is a good result of over 80%. Squeezing out that last bit of CBD from the CBDA to get over 95% decarb requires that second cycle in the Nova.

*Total Potential CBD = CBDA x .877 + CBD. When CBDA converts to CBD the acid molecule (carboxyl group) is released, reducing the total molecule weight by 13%. You can get the full potential CBD with precision decarboxylation.

To check out the starting CBDA and CBD check out the raw CBD Flower Control lab results . This is the starting flower we used to decarb and then infuse for our CBD tests.

Make CBD oils, topicals, edibles, and any other products.

Then what?

Once you have your activated CBD the sky’s the limit in terms of what you can make. Use directly in food, make a an oil or butter with one of our infusion kits, or even vaporize if you want. The point is that anything you can make with THC can also be made with CBD. Even better, mix your THC and CBD for the best results.

The recent attention on CBD can make it seem as if CBD is better than THC or that it is a more effective therapy. In fact, CBD works much better in tandem with THC. For many, THC added to CBD is necessary to achieve the relief they are seeking.

To easily create an organic oil made with premium flower for less than it would cost to purchase low-grade CBD products at the store, we took our Coconut Oil Infusion Kit, added a gram of double-decarbed CBD flower to the coconut oil, and popped it in the Nova for a cycle to infuse. (Want to learn more about how easy infusing in the Nova is? Check out our Infusion Guide and Infusion Video for all the details.) After the infusion cycle, the CBD infused oil had almost 100mg of CBD - and that's using just 1 gram of flower!

1 ounce oil infused with 1g double decarbed:

*We were able to get more than 100 mg CBD in an ounce of oil from one gram of flower that had 120mg CBD.

Its really that easy!. Stay tuned for more research on CBD, decarb and infusion coming soon.

**Don’t forget to always look for testing results. It is so important to know what you’re getting and ensure it meets your standard before putting it in your body or sharing with friends and family.

Questions? Comments?

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