If you’ve turned to organic products to improve your life, you’re probably familiar with CBD. But there’s one area that probably challenges you: how to store CBD products.
See, cannabidiol products are made up of different chemicals, and as with any chemical, they require proper storage, or else they might destabilize and lose their potency.
But the good thing is that storing CBD products doesn’t involve any complexities. You only need to observe certain ground rules, and your product will retain its freshness and potency.
The Significance of Proper CBD Storage
You might have read a testimonial, where someone complained that they bought a CBD product, but it never seemed to do anything for them.
But guess what, the inability to experience CBD effects could stem from poor storage. And so, the main reason why you need to store your CBD properly is so that you can enjoy full effects.
Some CBD products have varied flavors and aromas, but if they are not stored well, especially if the containers go unclosed, the flavors or aromas can easily fade away.
Proper storage is about shielding your products from various elements like heat, light, and moisture, which may destabilize cannabidiol or cause it to lose potency.
But before worrying about storage, you first need to ensure that you buy quality CBD enriched with varied compounds including terpenes [1].
The Shelf Life of CBD Products
The shelf life of CBD products is as wide-ranging as there are CBD products. For instance, the shelf life of a CBD tincture may not necessarily be the same as the shelf life of a CBD patch.
On the whole, CBD products seem to have a shelf life that ranges from18 to 24 months, but certain factors can affect the shelf life [2].
Quality: generally, quality CBD products tend to have a longer shelf life as opposed to inferior CBD products.
Packaging: the best packaging materials for CBD products are typically dark and sturdy, as they block out light and stabilize chemicals.
Conditions: excessive heat, excessive light, or exposure to air, can result in CBD degradation, and as a result, it can shorten the shelf life of CBD [3].
Tips for Storing CBD Properly
Whether you’re a novice or a veteran CBD consumer, you need to store your CBD products appropriately. The following are some critical storage tips.
1. Avoid Transferring Contents
Maybe your CBD product is held in a blue container, but you prefer a midnight black container, don’t fall into the temptation to transfer contents. During transferring, your CBD might get overexposed to air, and as a result, degrade.
2. Avoid Storing in Rooms with Unstable Temperatures
Some people have complex living arrangements, whereby their living spaces double up for other activities, and this might result in changing temperatures. Excessive heat can destabilize CBD, and excessive cold can damage some compounds. And so, seek balance.
3. Avoid Exposure to Sunlight
Have you been tempted to place that CBD bottle of yours on the window, because you think it looks cool while sitting there? You’re damaging your CBD. The UV rays have a demoralizing effect on CBD integrity.
4. Close the Container Tightly
Quality CBD products usually come in airtight containers, as manufacturers understand various elements could injure your CBD. But then again, your CBD is secure only if you close the container tightly, if it’s closed loosely, the air can still flow inside.
5. Use Clean Equipment When Consuming
For instance, if you’re taking CBD tincture, make sure that the dropper is clean. If you have an unclean dropper, you would taint the CBD with bacteria, and it can potentially degrade the CBD or lead to varied health risks.
6. Keep it Away from Kids
It’s not like if kids take some CBD something will happen to them, but it’s that kids are usually careless, and they might expose it to air, or add some contaminants, which can cause the CBD to lose its effectiveness.
7. Use a Refrigerator if You Live in Hot/Humid Regions
High humidity or heat is not friendly to CBD oil. If you live in such areas, you may want to store your CBD products in a refrigerator under stable temperatures.
What Happens If You Consume Expired CBD Oil?
If baked goods expire, mold typically appears on the surface of the goods, and consuming them would mean a stomach ache, diarrhea, or other symptoms. But when a CBD product expires, it’s not always obvious, but would it harm you if you consumed it?
CBD loses its potency as time passes, and beyond a certain point, you’re not going to experience any CBD effects. And so, expired CBD may not necessarily cause you to experience a migraine, but then you won’t experience any CBD effects.
Signs that CBD Oil is Expired
When buying CBD oil, make sure that you can spot the expiry date. The last thing you want is to be someone that gulps down some expired CBD product.
The following are some of the pointers that CBD oil is expired:
Bad odor: a nasty smell is always nature’s way of alerting us to a problem. Fresh CBD oil may not smell of roses, but at least, it has an earthy and nutty aroma. But when CBD oil is far past expiry, it typically gives off an unpleasant smell.
Thick and dark: when CBD oil expires, it might start growing thicker, and appearing many shades darker. These are clear signs of degradation. Quality CBD oil usually has a smooth consistency.
Unpleasant taste: fresh CBD oil has a good flavor, but expired CBD oil has an unpleasant taste, which is caused by chemical changes.
Can Consumption of Poorly-Stored CBD Products Risk Your Life?
By no means!
CBD is only fatal when you consume an impossible amount within a short period. But consuming poorly-stored CBD products can have you miss out on the effects of CBD.
The Takeaway: Correct CBD Storage
Buying quality CBD products is an important thing, but storing these products well is just as important. Proper storage helps with shielding CBD from various elements like excessive heat, light, and air. Some of the critical CBD storage tips include avoiding sunlight and storing CBD products in rooms with stable conditions.
Sources
- Pavlovic, R., Nenna, G., Calvi, L., Panseri, S., Borgonovo, G., Giupponi, L., … & Giorgi, A. (2018). Quality traits of “cannabidiol oils”: cannabinoids content, terpene fingerprint, and oxidation stability of European commercially available preparations. Molecules, 23(5), 1230.
- Fairbairn, J. W., Liebmann, J. A., & Rowan, M. G. (1976). The stability of cannabis and its preparations on storage. Journal of Pharmacy and Pharmacology, 28(1), 1-7.
- Merrick, J., Lane, B., Sebree, T., Yaksh, T., O’Neill, C., & Banks, S. L. (2016). Identification of psychoactive degradants of cannabidiol in the simulated gastric and physiological fluid. Cannabis and Cannabinoid Research, 1(1), 102-112.
