Anyone who’s using Cannabidiol (CBD) or looking into using CBD knows that it isn’t cheap.  Finding ways to get the most for your money is important.  Here are some tips to help you do just that.

How can you save money on CBD?  You can save money when buying CBD products by doing the following:

• Buy the most bioavailable types of products
• Don’t use more CBD than you need (find your “effective dose”)
  
• Order in bulk and purchase less often
  
• Have product auto-shipped regularly

Each of these tips can help save you money on your CBD products.  Below I’ll explain a little more about each tip and what you need to consider for each one.

CBD Bioavailability

CBD comes in several different forms.  You can vape it, absorb it under your tongue, eat it as taffy or gummy candy, rub it on your skin, or any number of other ways.  But each of these methods of delivery is actually quite different with regards to how much CBD they actually get into your system.  How much CBD a product actually delivers to your bloodstream to do the job is what bioavailability means.

If you’re not careful you could pay for a product that contains 35 mg of CBD but only delivers about 3 – 4 mg to your system.  That’s a huge waste of money since 90% of what your paying for doesn’t make it into your body in a form that can actually help you.  Being aware of which forms provide the most bang for the buck is important.

Here’s a breakdown of the most common forms of CBD and how bioavailable they are:

• Vaping: Vaping is actually the most efficient way of getting CBD into your system.  Research shows that about 40% of the CBD you vape gets into your system.  And it gets in fast!  Within a minute or two.  The downside is that vaping can have undesirable side effects.  More research is coming out about the long-term health effects of vaping.  If you don’t currently vape, you shouldn’t start just to get the most CBD in your system.  In fact, I don’t even recommend a CBD product for vaping.
• Tincture: Tinctures are basically an oil that you place under your tongue and let it sit there for a minute or two while the CBD absorbs through the thin tissues of your mouth.  This path of entry is just about as efficient as vaping.  Tinctures typically deliver about 35% of the CBD they contain, into your system.  There is some variability in the research on bioavailability on tinctures but we’ll assume 35%.  This is the method I recommend because it’s safe, fast (starts working in 5 – 10 minutes), and it’s highly bioavailable.
• Edibles:  There are a ton of edible CBD products on the market you can buy.  They are really convenient but not very good at getting CBD into your system.  One exception would be CBD Taffy from CBDEssence.com which actually absorbs in your mouth.  But for the most part, edible CBD products only get about 6 – 15% of the CBD they contain into your system.  For this post, we’ll assume an average of 10% bioavailability for edibles.
• Capsules:  Like edible products, capsules are a really convenient and repeatable way to get CBD into your system.  With capsules, you can be sure that you’re getting the same dose of CBD everytime you swallow one.  The problem is that just like the edible products, capsules only deliver about 6 – 15% of their CBD into your system.  Again we’ll assume 10% absorption for this post.
• Lotions/Creams:  Lotions and creams containing CBD are popular for sore joints and back pain.  These products don’t really get much CBD into your system to affect your entire body.  It is more for localized pain.

So what does all of this mean with regards to saving money on CBD?  Knowing this information is actually key for getting the most benefit from the money you spend on CBD.  When a retailer buys CBD to put into a product, the CBD costs them the same regardless of what type of product it’s going to go into.  And they pass that cost on to you and me when we buy their products.

There’s no discount because they know 90% of the CBD in an edible product is going to do you no good.  So you want to do everything you can to purchase a product that’s going to get as much of the CBD into your system as possible.  Here’s a table that shows how bioavailability affects the actual price per mg of usable CBD:

Type of Product	Cost of Product	mg of CBD in Product	Absorption Rate*	mg of CBD Absorbed	$/mg Absorbed
Vape	$49.99	300	40%	120	$0.42
Tincture	$54.99	300	35%	105	$0.52
Gummy Bear/Capsule	$59.99	450	10%	45	$1.33
Lotion	$69.95	200	5%	10	$6.99

*Absorption rates vary by person but these numbers are in the "ballpark".

As you can see from the table above, you pay a fairly similar price for the different types of CBD products with similar amounts of CBD in them.  But these products are vastly different when you look at how much CBD these products get into your system.  So if you’re trying to get the most bang for your buck when buying CBD, keep the above table in mind and try to stick with products that have high absorption rates.  The cost of CBD goes up dramatically if you purchase a product that has a low absorption rate.

Don’t use more CBD than you need

When you’re starting out on CBD, make sure you identify what you’re trying to accomplish by taking it.  Then start with a low dose of CBD.  It’s really hard to say exactly how much CBD you should take for different conditions.  There isn’t a lot of solid research done yet for all the conditions that CBD can help with.  What you’re trying to do in the beginning is to find your “minimum effective dose”.  Just as it sounds, this is the minimum quantity of CBD your body needs to achieve the desired effect.

Some people will make dosing recommendations on their websites for different symptoms, but those are suggestions that are likely based on their experience or experiences of others.  They may be helpful as starting points, but I’d still start lower and work your way up.  I hate to say it but some of these suggestions come from retailers who may benefit from telling people to take higher doses so they consume more CBD.

The amount of CBD needed for each condition is going to be different for each person.  Always start off at a low dose.  If the product says to take 1 mL, try starting with 1/2 mL.  Give it a week and see if this lower dose is enough to achieve the benefits you’re looking for.  If it’s not enough to do the job then up the dose and give it another week or so.  Keep repeating this weekly dosage increase until you achieve the results you’re after.

Starting at a low dose also gives you a safe way to see how your body is going to respond to CBD.  You shouldn’t have any major issues.  There aren’t really any known serious side effects to using CBD.  But it doesn’t hurt to ease into it and make sure you aren’t an exception to the norm.  Check out our blog post about CBD side effects for more information.

A common question I get from people is, “how much CBD do I need to take to get any effect?”  As I just mentioned above, it’s going to be different for some people.  However, I have a friend who takes a gummy bear containing 20 mg of CBD.  If we assume 10% of the CBD is absorbed then this means she is only getting about 2 mg of CBD into her system.  With only 2 mg in her system, she feels completely relaxed.  Her mind slows down and she sleeps like a baby.  And that is exactly what she’s trying to accomplish with CBD.

That’s why I say to start with a low dose.  If my friend were to switch from a gummy bear to a tincture, she would only need to take enough tincture to deliver about 6 mg of CBD.  Approximately 35% of this dose would be absorbed under her tongue.  This would give her about 2 mg of CBD in her system and she should experience the same benefit as consuming a 20 mg gummy bear.  And if a 6 mg dose wasn’t her effective dose then she would just need to bump it up a bit.

Buy less often and buy in bulk

Don’t do this at the beginning of your CBD journey.  When you’re starting out, you’ll actually want to buy in small quantities so you don’t waste a lot of money on a product you don’t like.  What you’ll find is that not all products are the same from website to website.  It may take a little bit of trial and error to find the product that works best for you.

For help getting started, check out my recommended products page.  I’ve put a lot of time into finding products and vendors that I think are high quality and will give you a good chance of finding the right product on the first shot.  You’ll also find good information about things you should consider when buying CBD products.

Once you find the product that’s right for you, stick with it.  This is when you’re going to want to buy in bulk so you can take advantage of volume discounts.  Many vendors offer free shipping on larger orders.  It’s also very common to see significant discounts on the products themselves when they are purchased in large quantities.

When buying in bulk, it’s reasonable to wonder what the shelf life is for CBD.  You don’t want to buy so much CBD that it ends up going bad by the time you get around to using it.  Generally, CBD products are good for at least 12 months.  Proper storage helps to ensure a long shelf life.  Here are some things to consider for a long shelf life:

• Keep the product cool: The fridge is a good place to store CBD products.  The cold temperatures help to slow down any chemical reactions in the product that could degrade the CBD and other helpful compounds.
• Keep the product in a dark place: UV light can be a pretty powerful oxidizer.  This is something the food industry, especially dairy products, struggle with all the time.  Never store your CBD products on a window sill.  The less light exposure the better.
• Prevent air exposure: When you buy in bulk, only open up one vial or container at a time.  Leave the rest of them in their original sealed container until you’re ready to start consuming them.  Always close your current container tight so as little air can get to the product as possible.
• Respect the “Best by” date: Check with your retailer before placing your bulk order.  Make sure you know in advance how long they say their products will last.  Never buy more product than you can reasonably use within the given shelflife.

Take advantage of auto shipping discounts

This may seem contradictory to the previous section about buying less often but in larger quantities.  And I suppose it is at odds.  But some retailers allow you to have product auto-shipped every month to you.  Often times this will get you a discount on the product.  Retailers love having a group of steady customers and they often times will incentivize you for your recurring business.  This is also nice for you because you don’t have to worry about running out.  A new package arrives every month without you doing anything.

If your favorite product is sold by a retailer who doesn’t provide the auto-ship option or doesn’t give a discount for having product auto-shipped, then go with the previous strategy of buying in bulk.  But this is worth looking into.

Related questions

When will the price of CBD come down

As the demand for CBD continues to go up, it’s unlikely that the price of CBD will go down in the near future.  Prices won’t go down until the supply of CBD outpaces the growth in demand.  Since we’re still in the early stages of the CBD boom, demand is growing much faster than farmers ability to generate hemp.

As more and more countries around the world recognize the benefits of hemp and all of its products we will continue to see an increase in both demand and supply.  But I think we’re many years from that happening.

Can I overdose on CBD

You can’t overdose on CBD.  CBD has been shown to be a very safe treatment in humans even at high dosages for prolonged periods of time.  But taking more CBD than is needed is expensive.  Also, taking more of any chemical into your body than you need is rarely a good idea.