Wondering how you can get the most benefit from your CBD? Click here for our guide.
CBD’s popularity isn’t just a result of its many potential benefits. If we loved something just for its health-giving properties, we’d all be ordering broccoli for dessert and ripping open a bag of carrot sticks in the dark of the cinema. True, the reason so many people are deciding to incorporate it into their lives is primarily down to the excitement CBD is stirring up in the worlds of health, wellness, and medicine, but the thing that’s making it possible for so many different people to do that is its versatility.
CBD is a compound (cannabidiol) derived from the hemp plant. In its ‘raw state’, it isn’t much to look at – but, like any good ingredient, it can be combined with other elements to make it more palatable, more convenient, or more enjoyable to use.
But what’s the difference between a wax and an oil, a smokable and a vape cart? Here’s everything you need to know about the most effective ways of taking CBD.
How Does CBD Work?
CBD affects the body when it enters the bloodstream. While we don’t yet understand quite what takes place between CBD and the body, researchers have suggested that it has a unique reaction with the endocannabinoid system, which influences all sorts of processes like mood, metabolism, sleep and stress, pain and inflammation, and cardiovascular function. This reaction is thought to be quite different to the reaction that takes place between THC and the body’s endocannabinoid receptors.
Over the coming years, we can expect to see researchers shedding more light on the specifics of this reaction.
But the crux of the issue – and what matters most to users – is the fact that CBD needs to enter the bloodstream for you to feel the sort of effect you’re looking for. There are, of course, many different ways for this to happen. CBD hemp flower can be smoked and enter the bloodstream via the lungs, or it can be eaten, and enter the bloodstream via the digestive tract. It can also be placed under the tongue and absorbed that way.
CBD applied topically (as, say, an ingredient in a lotion or skin treatment) can interact with the endocannabinoid system but, unlike other forms of CBD, it won’t enter the bloodstream.
Smoking and Vaping vs Ingesting CBD
So, if you’re looking for the most effective way to take CBD, you should focus on smokables or vape carts, or ingestible forms of CBD. That way, the CBD will have a direct path to follow to your bloodstream, and give you a more significant, more tangible effect.
What happens when you smoke or vape CBD hemp flower?
Vaping and smoking are both very different in practice, but they produce similar results because, in both instances, you’re inhaling the CBD directly into your lungs. Of course, vaping offers more control in terms of dosage, since you can get different strengths of vape cart, while smoking is generally better for more experienced users.
In either case, many people claim that the effect is pleasant and mellowing. This will not be a high since THC is responsible for the ‘high’ associated with marijuana, and any hemp flower we sell yields less than 0.01% THC. Instead, the effects are more mellow, and not intoxicating.
Since the smoke or vapour has such a clear path to follow to the lungs, it penetrates the bloodstream very quickly. The effects are felt by users very quickly and tend to last about 20 minutes to half an hour, depending on the strength of the CBD and the tolerance of the user. Each hit will increase that feeling, and, once you stop, you’ll notice it lessening.
The Benefits:
- CBD’s effect is fast to take hold.
- You have full control over dosage, since you can stop smoking/vaping whenever you feel the effect is sufficient.
- Vaping particularly is convenient, and you can enjoy some great flavours.
What happens when you ingest CBD?
CBD takes more time to interact with the body’s endocannabinoid system when it is ingested, meaning there will be a lull between the moment you ‘take it’, and the moment you feel the effect. It’s a lot slower than smoking, which is more or less instant.
The upside? The effects of ingesting CBD are generally more powerful, and longer lasting since the CBD moves gradually through the digestive system and continues to have an effect during that time.
You can ingest CBD in many different ways. Fixed-dose oils and edible gummies are great for convenience, but CBD hash can also be used in cooking if you’re happy to work out the right dose on your own, and all represent effective ways of getting what we like to call that #dailydoze of CBD.
The Benefits:
- Ingested, CBD’s effect is more potent, and longer lasting (although you’ll have to wait longer to feel it and avoid taking a higher dose in the meantime).
- It’s the most convenient and discrete option for users who don’t want the smell smoking generates, or the restrictions on vaping (say, if you’re living in an apartment building with strict rules).
So, the most effective way to take CBD is…
Smoking hemp flower or vaping one of our CBD carts if you want a to feel it now; oil or edibles if you want a more prolonged, more mellow effect from your CBD.
If you haven’t guessed by now, there is no ‘one size fits all’ ideal for CBD – and that’s part of its beauty. The versatility of this compound is what makes it so popular. If you hate the feeling of inhaling smoke or vapour, then there are plenty of other ways to experience it; if, on the other hand, you love the experience of smoking, then CBD’s potential health benefits – combined with a THC content of less than 0.01% — make it an ideal choice.
The best way to take CBD is the way that you prefer experiencing it. Eating, smoking, and vaping will create much more of a noticeable effect than topical CBD products but, after that, it comes down to personal preference.
