A pump will push the sample at incredibly high pressure through a column with chromatographic packing material (which could be very small polymer or glass beads, or silica, resin, alumina, etc.) via a stream of helium or nitrogen gas (the solvent). Through this process, the sample separates into its individual compounds, which can then be analysed to ensure correct concentrations of desirable compounds are present, and no foreign particles or substances are present in the substance. While manual intervention was previously required, most modern HPLC machines are fully automated and can adjust pump pressures, reservoir contents, and content analysis.

Why is HPLC so important for cannabis extraction? As this industry continues to develop its legitimacy in the eyes of national regulatory bodies and end-users, we must do our part to ensure cannabis products are safe to use, free from contaminants or foreign substances, and meeting the concentrations of active ingredients found on their labels. In cannabis distillate, concentrations to look for include cannabinoids and terpenes (ensuring you have the right concentrations of each) and pesticides and heavy metals (ensuring you don’t have these harmful compounds in your distillate).

Part of our commitment at extractX as we move from food-grade to pharma-grade across the board is HPLC testing at multiple stages throughout the extraction process to ensure our partners are getting the highest-quality distillate output from their cannabis biomass.

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Despite the challenges imposed by the restrictions on the digital marketing of cannabis products, here are some major opportunities you and your brand can take advantage of:

• Build a great brand – just because you can’t aggressively advertise on social media and digital platforms, it doesn’t mean you can’t still have great content. You want to create a brand presence across your website, social media, and other marketing channels that draws people in and makes them remember you.
• Become a thought leader – in this emerging industry, people will give their trust to companies that are able to organize the new information and research in a way that educates them and provides value. This builds trust, which turns into brand loyalty, traffic, and business. This also helps you capitalize on SEO (search engine optimization) opportunities.
• Leverage word of mouth – create and empower brand ambassadors by giving them a reason to share your offers and content. Make your logo something that looks good on a shirt, hat, or other piece of merchandise so that customers can proudly display your brand in public. Host contests and events that get people talking about you to their friends.
• Work with media partners – find a cannabis blog or news outlet that aligns with your brand and your goals and form a mutually beneficial partnership with them. These organizations are constantly looking for content, and if you’re doing something innovative in this industry, the right partners will want to share your story with their audience.
• Leverage technology – ensure you’re making use of marketing technology to create a great experience for your customers. Loyalty programs, special offers, customer databases, and text message and email campaigns are all easy to organize and execute through the use of affordable marketing tools.

You want to partner with organizations along every stage in your journey that are willing to share your success with their audiences. Cannabis product companies can partner with their cultivators, extraction partners, sales channels, and even local businesses to create cross-promotional opportunities that benefit both parties.

At extractX, we love showcasing the success of our partners. Here’s an example of a post on our company’s LinkedIn page where we highlight a huge update from one of our partners in Franklin, Kentucky:

One of the biggest obstacles in creating cannabis beverages is that cannabinoids are fat-soluble. “Fat-soluble” means the molecules can only be stored in fatty tissues and compounds, rather than in water. This means that cannabinoids pulled out of the cannabis plant through an extraction process must be stored within some type of fatty compound, like MCT oil or olive oil. These oils containing suspended cannabinoids don’t mix well with water-based beverages – like putting an eye-dropper full of olive oil into a glass of pop or juice, it will just float to the top.

The key to properly integrating cannabinoids into a beverage that’s pleasurable to drink is a process called emulsification. Throughout this process, a cannabis distillate is rapidly mixed to turn the oil into tiny droplets, which are then combined with a blending agent to create a water-soluble product that can be mixed into a beverage without separating (learn more about emulsification here).

In addition to the health benefits of serving as an alternative way to enjoy cannabis without having to smoke or vape (which can have negative impacts on lung health), one of the biggest benefits that cannabis beverages offer pertains to the social aspect of cannabis use. Previously, when engaged in a social outing, cannabis users had to separate themselves to go outside and smoke. Now, recreational users who may prefer cannabis to alcohol can sip beverages alongside their counterparts. While this small step may seem insignificant, it contributes to the de-stigmatization of a product that has much less harmful societal and physiological impacts than alcohol.

A key consideration in creating amazing cannabis beverages is the quality of the distillate being emulsified and combined into the drink. If you’re a hemp or cannabis cultivator, processor, or product formulator hoping to produce high-quality cannabis beverages, we walk to talk! Our turnkey mobile labs arrive at your facility within 4-6 months and require a $0 lab CapEx, and produce some of the highest-quality cannabis distillate in the world. Please contact us to learn about becoming an extractX partner.

Cannabinoids interact with your endocannabinoid system by binding with endocannabinoid receptors, just like the endocannabinoids produced naturally by your body. They are then broken down by the enzymes and processed by the body once their jobs are done. There are two types of endocannabinoid receptors found within your body. CB1 receptors are found mainly within the central nervous system (brain cells, etc.), and CB2 receptors are found mainly in your peripheral nervous system (immune cells, etc.)

Though our understanding of how cannabinoids like THC and CBD are processed by the ECS is still incomplete, recent studies spurned by the legalization and decriminalization of cannabis in jurisdictions throughout the world have helped us gain a better understanding in recent years of this remarkable system. The more we learn, the further we are able to develop cannabis products that can do a lot more than cause inebriating and euphoric effects.

As research continues to prove the positive health effects cannabinoids can produce within the body thanks to the ECS, more and more doors are opening to use cannabis for much more than recreational use. The more we learn, the better we can understand the benefits of specific cannabinoids (like THC, CBD, CBG, etc.) and develop processes and technologies to isolate these compounds into products that can be ingested, vaped, or used topically. (Learn more about some exciting progress in the future of ECS research here.)

Cannabis distillate products have opened a new market for people that want to experience the benefits of this remarkable plant, without wanting to start smoking or get “high”. As we dive further into the ECS, we learn more and more about how our body processes these compounds and can produce better products to treat a range of human health issues.

If you’re a hemp or cannabis cultivator, processor, or product formulator in need of high-quality cannabis distillate, we walk to talk! Our turnkey mobile labs arrive at your facility within 4-6 months and require a $0 lab CAPEX. Please contact us to learn about becoming an extractX partner.

Trichomes in the cannabis plant contain the highest concentrations of terpenes and cannabinoids. Because of this, they play a major role in defining the psychoactive effects and health benefits that a strain provides. Recent studies have tried to prove that the specific terpene concentrations found in a strain are what can cause strains of similar cannabinoid levels to produce different effects when processed by the body’s endocannabinoid system (a phenomenon referred to as the “entourage effect”).

Since trichomes are the main source of terpenes and cannabinoids within the cannabis plant, cultivators, extractors, product formulators, and even average consumers should understand what healthy, ripe trichomes look like. Trichomes that are a milky white colour contain the highest potencies of terpenes and cannabinoids, whereas amber coloured trichomes have aged past their peak potency.

Plants with more trichomes will have higher concentrations of cannabinoids like THC and CBD. The extraction process pulls these desirable compounds from the plant’s trichome glands. By dissolving the trichomes and harvesting the subsequent cannabinoids through a solvent extraction process (like ethanol or supercritical CO2 processes), extractors can produce high-quality cannabis distillates in large quantities.

Trichomes are essentially cannabinoid factories, and are incredibly sensitive to factors such as heat, light, time, and physical contact. For this reason, cannabis extractors must be in communication with their cultivators and processors to ensure these parts of the plant remain undamaged and intact until it’s time for the extraction process to begin.

If you’re hoping to produce high-quality cannabis distillate, an extractX mobile lab could be right for you! Our labs are built off-site to the highest compliance standards, installed at your facility within 4 months of contract for $0 lab CAPEX. Reach out to extractX today to learn more about our extraction-as-a-service partnership model.

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While extraction processes and technologies continue to rapidly evolve to meet the demands of the expanding global market, there will always be variables before the extraction stage that impact the quality of your distillate products. The quality of your biomass input will always play a major role in determining the quality of your distillate output. For this reason, partnering with growers and cultivators that you can trust to deliver a consistent supply of quality cannabis biomass is crucial to your success.

It’s important to select biomass with the right amounts of the desired cannabinoids (like THC and CBD) and terpenes to support the creation of your desired finished products. Testing for cannabinoids, terpenes, pesticide and heavy metal contents before committing to a partnership with a grower or cultivator is critical to ensuring you’re entering into a relationship that will get you the highest quality inputs for your process.

Here are a few steps you can take to ensure you’re sourcing the best biomass for your cannabis distillate products:

1. Perform a visual inspection – it’s fairly easy to visually identify what your biomass is comprised of; buds have the highest potency of cannabinoids, whereas leaves contain a lower potency, and stalks and stems contain very little desired compounds
2. Ensure your biomass is “homogenized” – since your biomass can come from a variety of strains and sources, it’s important to ensure the distinct plant products have been properly mixed together so they can be tested as a single entity
3. Test the potency of compounds in the biomass – test the biomass for its potency of cannabinoids, terpenes, pesticides, and heavy metals in relation to the concentrations tolerated by your local AHJ
4. Visit your cultivators – review the grow sites, meet the people, see how they deal with pests, assess the quality of their water, etc. (learn more here)
5. Perform a micro-extraction – perform a low-tech, small-scale extraction on a sample of biomass and test the quality of that distillate

Once you’ve sourced the right biomass for your needs, your next step is to engage with an extraction partner that will turn that biomass into the right type of distillate. Depending on your size and type of end product you’re creating, you have a few different options for extraction solutions (learn more about your options here).

If you’re a hemp or cannabis cultivator, processor, or product formulator hoping to produce high-quality cannabis distillate, we walk to talk! Our turnkey mobile labs arrive at your facility within 4-6 months and require a $0 lab CAPEX. Please contact us to learn about becoming an extractX partner.

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When a consumer smokes cannabis, a process called decarboxylation happens instantaneously. During this process, CBGA (the mother cannabinoid) is broken down into other cannabinoids like THC, CBD, CBG, etc. which can then be absorbed by the body. Smoking dried flower allows for a “full-spectrum” experience, where the body’s endocannabinoid system can intake all of the compounds found in the plant.

When a specific cannabinoid like CBD or THC is isolated from its “family” of other compounds, anecdotal evidence suggests that the isolated cannabinoid is less-effective at producing the euphoric, inebriating effects, or medicinal benefits than if the same amount of that cannabinoid was introduced to the body in a full-spectrum capacity (with all those other cannabinoids).

This is especially important for new users of CBD products since, as they want to avoid the inebriation caused by THC, they use CBD isolate products. These isolates can cause the consumer to sacrifice some of the potential benefits of CBD when compared to the way a full-spectrum CBD product is absorbed by the body.

It is important to note that most information supporting the entourage effect is anecdotal, and that further research must be done to fully understand this phenomenon. Once the entourage effect is proven true, real research will prove the current unverified claims that isolate products are processed by the endocannabinoid system differently than full-spectrum cannabis products (learn more about Full Spectrum vs. Isolate Distillates).

This article does not argue in favour of or against the use of cannabis isolate products. In fact, the more we learn about the entourage effect and the effects of isolated cannabinoid products, the more products can be created to help treat specific human health conditions. Moving forward, there will always be a market for THC-free products, and the evolution of the extraction industry is moving us towards a world where specific cannabinoids can be isolated or removed from cannabis distillate more easily. This is great news for the average consumer who wants to use cannabis for medicinal purposes!

If you’re producing cannabis distillate, whether full-spectrum or the isolate of a specific cannabinoid, an extractX mobile lab could be right for you! Our labs are built off-site to the highest compliance standards, able to produce high-quality full-spectrum distillate or THC-free and isolate distillates through further separation and remediation processes. Instead of building your own lab, reach out to extractX today to learn more about how you can get a mobile lab installed within your facility within 4 months of contract for $0 lab CapEx.

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