HOW TO UNDERSTAND CBD STRENGTH AND PRICE

Reading a CBD product label can sometimes feel like reading a maths paper. With percentages, milligrams and millilitres in play, CBD strength is easily misunderstood. We break down the numbers so you can better understand what’s in each CBD product and how to make an informed choice.

When we talk about strength of a CBD product, it’s about understanding how much Cannabidiol is included per volume. Determining strength can be a bit tricky and some product labels don’t make it easy to know exactly how strong a product is, or how potent a dose it provides.

When the CBD category first launched, CBD concentration was often shown in percentages, however the number of milligrams (mg) is the more important metric and typically refers to the total amount of cannabinoids in the product. 

While there are many things to consider when purchasing CBD oil, understanding the strength of a product is important to be able to properly consider the price of a product as well as its efficacy, as you explore a CBD regime that works for you and your body.

CBD STRENGTH DECODED

Let’s say you’re looking at two bottles of CBD oil oral drops. One is a 10ml bottle which has 1000mg of CBD stated on the label, and the other is a 20ml bottle that is also stated as 1000mg. 

Whilst both bottles contain the same overall amount of cannabinoids (1000mg), the bottles are two different strengths. In percentage terms, the 10ml bottle of CBD oil is 10% CBD and the 20ml bottle is 5% CBD, meaning that it will have half the amount of CBD per drop. 

Understanding the strength per drop is helpful as this is how you will measure your dose:

• A 10ml bottle is equal to 200 drops so to calculate the mg per drop you divide the total CBD mg by number of drops.
• 1000mg / 200 drops (10ml) = 5mg CBD per drop.
• For the 20ml bottle you have 400 drops which means that each drop is equal to 2.5mg of CBD (the same amount of CBD has been diluted into a larger volume of carrier oil, so each drop contains less).
• The 10ml bottle is twice as strong, so you would need double the number of drops of the 20ml product to achieve the same dose.

We’ll chat CBD drops dosage in a separate story but recommendations on how many drops to take are included on each of our product pages and the FSA recently issued guidance of 70mg CBD max per day (approx. 28 drops of 5% CBD).

THE VALUE EQUATION

When comparing the price of products, you essentially want to know the price you are paying for each milligram of CBD, not the price per overall liquid amount.  You should always follow a simple calculation when comparing different CBD products to get a true reflection of what you’re paying for. To get the ‘price per milligram of CBD’, simply divide the price by the amount of CBD mg:

	PRICE	DIVIDED BY CBD MG	= PRICE PER MG OF CBD
BOTTLE 1 30ml CBD oil drops with 3000mg of CBD @ £140	£140	3000mg	0.05p per mg of CBD
BOTTLE 2:  30ml CBD oil drops with 600mg of CBD @£80	£80	600mg	0.13p per mg of CBD

 

Bottle 1 may look more expensive to buy, but as the potency is higher, you have more CBD per drop and therefore a higher efficacy so you can use less drops of CBD oil for the same effect.  With bottle 2 you’re actually paying double the price, even though it looks the opposite at first glance. 

WHERE TO GET THE BEST QUALITY CBD

It can be confusing to know what CBD is good quality and what the strength of each bottle is. We recommend judging the strength of the CBD in mg and not percentage (%) - this is because when you purchase CBD, you are purchasing the amount of mg in a bottle. The difference with percentage is that you can have two 500mg bottles, for example, one in 30ml and one in 10ml - the amount of CBD in 10ml is the same as the 30ml but the 10ml has a 3x higher percentage. Yet, you are still only buying 500mg.

We have made it very easy to know the strength of the CBD you are purchasing by clearly displaying the number of mg in a bottle, not only that but our DAY DROPS are some of the strongest CBD oil drops in the UK.

DAY DROPS (500-6000mg)

From 0.05p per mg

VIEW PRODUCT

Additional tip

Always read the ingredients label on CBD drops to check how the CBD is listed. Sometimes the % or mg of CBD listed within a product isn’t the pure CBD amount - it can refer to what is called a ‘CBD ingredient’ which itself could be a blend of CBD with another carrier i.e., a diluted down concentration of CBD.

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Finding the right CBD products for you can feel overwhelming but don’t let the numbers deter you from jumping in and experiencing the restorative power of CBD oil.  At APOTHEM we try and keep it as simple as possible. We only use 100% CBD isolate – the purest form of CBD available - stated in milligrams.  We independently triple test each batch to ensure that the amount of CBD is accurate and that each batch of raw ingredient is 100% pure CBD isolate. This means, we can trust exactly what goes into each product, and so can you.

If you’re ever unsure and need a little help or personal recommendation, drop us a line at hello@apothemlabs.com.

Explore our CBD for SLEEP, CBD for CALM, and CBD for RECOVERY collections now.  First-time purchasers can save 15% with code WELCOME15 or shop our biggest sale ever now.