It’s the Wild West out there.
No, we’re not talking about the cannabis market— its products are very closely regulated.
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We’re actually talking about the CBD industry. CBD’s federal legality is something to be thankful for, but it’s also allowed an influx of CBD products with low quality standards to enter the market.
At Toast Wellness we view things much differently. Having started in the cannabis industry we have tremendous respect for both, the plant that makes CBD possible...and the process required to do CBD right. Slowly but surely, our lofty standards are changing the face of the CBD industry. Here’s how.
FDA Guidelines? Not Yet…
We remember when cannabis testing was first required in California: January 1st, 2018.
When that happened, a whole category of fly-by-night cannabis companies kind of just faded away.
Given the challenges that brands who wanted to stay in compliance faced, this shift wasn’t really surprising. Back then cannabis labs weren’t fully up-and-running yet, which meant we couldn’t ensure our new products would be federally compliant. It was a tough decision, but we decided to wait until labs opened up — around July 1st — and release our products the right way.
Today the CBD industry finds itself in a similar boat as the California cannabis industry did before 2018. Comprehensive lab testing isn’t required yet; in most states it’s easy (and legal) to test a small sample of hemp, process an entire field of the stuff, and freely sell every untested bottle.
But just because it’s legally permissible doesn’t mean it’s right. We’ve chosen to set a better precedent by taking everything we learned from cannabis and applying it to hemp - including standards. We know that tougher laws are coming, and we’re not waiting until they arrive to act. Why would we? People’s health and wellness are at stake, even now.
Category Three Testing
Some types of product testing are more extensive than others. Our approach is centered around what California calls category three testing. That means that products are tested three times: at the hemp farm, during manufacturing, and by finished/final batch. We test for everything: cannabinoids, terpenes, mold, mycotoxins, heavy metals, pesticides, and more.
Testing begins at harvest. Our hemp farmers utilize the most exacting organic methods, but there’s still some risk involved. That’s because hemp is what’s called an accumulator plant — it naturally binds to toxins in the soil and air.
So while growing hemp is great for the environment, ingesting polluted hemp is not great for you. The first round of testing ensures that no toxins made it into any part of our hemp by looking for pesticides, molds, heavy metals, and other pollutants.
Enjoying the Process...And the Final Product.
Purity ensured, it’s now time to harness hemp’s phytochemical goodness. Our products are extracted with food-grade CO₂ to form a solvent-free concentrate; this concentrate is then further refined with a proprietary distillation technique.
Throughout the whole process hemp’s cannabinoids, terpenes, and flavonoids are preserved. How do we know? Because a second series of tests for potency and purity confirm it!
Next up is product formulation. Our hemp extracts are blended with the finest carrier oils and organic flavors; beyond that, though, we like to keep things simple. A third and final round of testing is done by 3rd-party labs to ensure that every part of the manufacturing process stays squeaky clean.
All in all our products are analyzed by more than 60 metrics. This level of analysis is the only way to have the complete assurance we require and that you deserve. The end result is a premium, verifiably pure product.
And for all of you who enjoy a Toast pre-roll from time to time, there’s more good news: our smokeable products follow a similar process. Toast Emerald CBD pre-rolls are made from slow cured hemp flower (no cheap biomass here) and extensively tested themselves.
Why Toast Partners With Other Brands
We may be industry leaders in the worlds of cannabis and hemp, but we humbly admit to not being experts at everything :)
It’s for that reason we don’t try to do everything ourselves. We don’t produce endless varieties of products. In fact, we won’t produce any product unless it’s an industry-leading one!
Instead we value working together with brands who’ve been there and done that. We’ve partnered with Brooklyn-based chocolatier Fine & Raw, for example, to make a new line of exceptionally smooth, rich and creamy Chocolate Supplements. This partnership simply (and deliciously) made sense: our customers wanted chocolate, and Fine & Raw’s wanted CBD.
We knew these had to be good — and wow…are they good!
We have a few more exciting partnerships in the works too, including a CBD-infused skincare line (stay tuned)!
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In the future, we hope consumers will begin to demand this type of uncompromising quality, and refuse to settle for less. We believe they are already starting to!