What makes our products better? To answer this question, you have to understand what goes behind making our products. We begin not with the flower but with the farmer (grower). With such a new and budding (pun intended) industry, we have a lot to overcome. Such as; differences in genetics, cultivating methods, pest control, harvesting, drying, and storage. All of these factors play a part in how we apply our parameters to extracting. Therefore we sought relationships with farmers who had to meet specific criteria in areas of experience, ethics in-growing, and sourcing their genetics. By focusing on the farmer, we have greater confidence in the plant material’s quality and consistency.
Next, we use a “Super-Cryo Extraction Method,” which allows us to focus on a specific group of items such as the cannabinoids from the plant. We want to eliminate as much of the other items coming off the plant as possible. To do this, we have custom made chilling technology using LN2 to drive the temperatures to -90. In addition to the super-cryo method, we also employ a unique saturation methodology to make our process the most efficient.
As a side note, do not be fooled by the solventless extraction methods of supercritical CO2. Because this method is squeezing everything out of the plant material, it has to be winterized. Winterization requires those extraction companies to then mix a solvent into the material to keep it from hardening during this process. Therefore, the extraction itself is solventless, but they still have to use solvents to process the oil. My only point is you’re NOT buying a material which was made without solvents.
Once the material is extracted and the solvent has been removed, we use wiped-film distillation to separate the cannabinoids. This form of distillation has been used in the industrial world for over 50 years and is remarkably consistent. The key to using this technology is putting the vessels under vacuum to lower the boiling point. Our vacuums are generated from a 4 stage system that finishes with a diffusion pump (a pump with no moving parts). This allows us to fractionate the cannabinoids at lower temperatures.
Finally, we have invested in analytical instruments, allowing us to perform on-site testing. Giving us the unique ability to test every stage of the process and adjust the parameters (if needed). Again this an organic material grown under a variety of genetics, cultivation methods, and no consistency in harvest. We refer to this as the “Science of Quality.”
To ensure we follow our methods consistently, we have a 3rd party auditor inspect us to qualify for our cGMP certification. This certification gives our clients confidence that we are meeting the same level of quality and consistency with every lot.
In future posts, we will dive deeper into these methods and discuss the production of our Broad Spectrum and CBD Isolate.