How Is CBD Isolate Made?

 

The process starts with growing hemp or another high-CBD strain, like Charlotte’s Web or Cannatonic. The reason CBD isolate is made from these types of cannabis is that other strains, like Sour Diesel and Blue Dream, contain more THC than CBD.

When the cannabis plant reaches maturity, it’s harvested and subjected to some form of extraction. Extraction separates the cannabinoids, terpenes, trichomes, flavonoids, and other chemical goodies from the plant matter. Common extraction methods include:

• CO2
• Ice water
• Butane
• Alcohol/ethanol

At the end of the extraction process, you’re left with a cannabis concentrate. Depending on the form in which you choose to keep the cannabis concentrate (e.g., solid, semi-solid, liquid), you can then make things like shatter, wax, oil, and tincture.

But if you want to make CBD isolate, you’ll need to refine that concentrate a little bit more with a process called winterization.

Winterization is just a fancy science term for cooling down a chemical substance in order to remove impurities. So, in the case of CBD isolate, winterization removes excess waxes, but it also removes the terpenes, trichomes, and flavonoids.

There’s a big debate raging around whole-plant cannabis vs. isolates because the chemicals that are removed to produce an isolate can have beneficial effects when taken together.

(For more about the entourage effect, its importance, and how it applies to perishability, check our article Marijuana Perishability: The Importance Of Marijuana Preservation.)

As simple as the extraction and refining processes sound, they’re really not. Certain extraction methods can be done at home, but winterization is a bit more complicated than just storing your cannabis concentrate in the freezer for a few days.

If you’re interested in trying CBD isolate for yourself, we highly recommend that purchasing it rather than making it yourself.

Important note: be sure to get your CBD isolate from a reputable source. Buying a baggie of powder from a guy you met in the park is just a bad idea all around. Don’t do it.

Talk to the budtenders at your local dispensary in Keystone CO, and they can point you in the right direction.