From farm to formulation
Certified USDA Organic Colorado Hemp
The history of Cannabis/hemp is fascinating. Archaeological research has shown evidence that it is one of the earliest plants to be cultivated and utilized by humans. This dates back over 10,000 years ago to the early Neolithic period when the global human population of the earth was estimated to be only about 1 million people. Unfortunately, the plant was maligned and largely illegal for the last 100 years and not widely researched until recently.
Starting in 2012, Colorado became the first state in the USA to legalize farming hemp as an agricultural crop and produced the first legal hemp crop in decades. Since then, Colorado has continued to pioneer many top hemp cultivars and create regulations adopted by the rest of the country. Kalyan CBD Creams and CBD Massage Oils start with highest quality USDA Certified Organic Hemp grown here in Colorado.
Getting into the weeds
Understanding the Cannabis/Hemp Spectrum
Look closely at the picture of the hemp flower and you will notice small white dots that look like dew droplets that are concentrated on the hemp flower and to a lesser extent on its leaves. These are called trichomes and they produce a sticky resin that contains all of the naturally occurring chemical compounds (Cannabinoids) that give the plant its remarkable therapeutic benefits. There are over 100 cannabinoids that have been identified. The most widely researched are the Major Cannabinoids including CBD, CBG, THC, CBC and CBN. The rest are less researched and are considered Minor cannabinoids such as CBL, CBT, CBDV and many others. All cannabinoids come from the plant’s aerial parts (flowers and leaves) and not the seeds. It is important to understand this difference because the term “hemp extract” can be applied to pressed hemp seed oil which has no Cannabinoids and can be misleading for people. True Cannabinoid rich hemp extract is what is desired in therapeutic product formulations.
From farm to product formulation
Crafting Our Proprietary Hemp Extract Spectrum
Going from pristine Colorado hemp flowers and leaves to the proprietary broad spectrum hemp extract used in our formulations entails several intentional purification steps including:
Resin created by trichomes is collected from freshly harvested flowers and leaves using clean CO2 or water based extraction. The resulting oil is referred to as “full spectrum crude”. It contains many chemical plant compounds including: multiple major and minor cannabinoids, terpenes, flavonoids and polyphenols as well as fats, waxes and chlorophyll. All of these components work together synergistically in what is referred to as the “Entourage Effect”.
While Full Spectrum crude is widely believed to have the most beneficial Entourage Effect, it does have some drawbacks. The fats, waxes and chlorophyll give it a very bitter taste and a very dark tar color. The taste makes it not ideal for edibles and the color makes it not ideal for creams because it is so dark. Winterization is a purification step used on crude cannabis extract to remove unwanted plant fats, waxes, and chlorophyll. It involves mixing the crude extract with high-proof ethanol, chilling the mixture to sub-zero temperatures to solidify the impurities, filtering them out, and then evaporating the ethanol. The resulting extract has a much more pleasant taste and light golden color making it better suited for use in product formulations.
Hemp plants have two distinct phases in their growth cycle: growth phase and flowering phase. This is controlled by the number of hours of day light they receive. Here in Colorado, for plants grown outdoors this typically spans 5-6 months going from early May to September/October to reach full maturity. When the plants have flowered and trichomes have produced their peak Cannabinoid rich resin, they need one additional step. At this point, the winterized extract contains acid precursors to final cannabinoid form such as CBDA, CBGA, THCA etc. To become “activated”, the extract is heated which converts the acid precursors into active cannabinoids CBD, CBG, THC etc. The acid precursors have their own health benefits but for our topical creams and oils we use the fully activated/decarboxylated form of the Cannabinoids.
Because our CBD Creams and Massage Oils are designed for professional use, we remove THC. This is not because we feel THC is bad. It is because we don’t feel it is appropriate for spas or other professional wellness practitioners to expose their employees to THC when doing their job. THC concentrations in full spectrum hemp formulations are required to be less than .3% by US regulations. This is likely not enough to cause employees using the formulation to get high but it very likely would result in them testing positive for THC and failing a drug test. This creates significant liability risk for spa employers. What if an employee gets in a car accident on the way home from work and tests positive for THC? Once THC is removed, the extract is then referred to as Broad Spectrum instead of Full Spectrum. It is our belief that Broad Spectrum extract is just as effective as Full Spectrum extract in a topical cream or massage oil for soothing pain and inflammation.
Intentional innovation
Kalyan's Proprietary Broad Spectrum Blend
To understand the proprietary spectrum approach we take with our hemp extract, it is useful to think about French Bordeaux or American Meritage wine blends. To achieve a higher degree of complexity to these wines, winemakers blend multiple varietals of grapes. This allows them to take the best characteristics of each variety and combine them into something that couldn’t be achieved with a single varietal of grape. We similarly start with finest quality broad spectrum hemp extract which is rich in CBD content and combine it with pure CBG to achieve our unique 10:1 ratio of CBD to CBG while still preserving the full Entourage Effect of broad spectrum hemp extract. Our proprietary broad spectrum is further enhanced by terpenes found in our Ancient Botanical Blend. One great example is the terpene Nerolidol which comes from our use of the essential oil Nerolina in our Ancient Botanical Blend. Nerolidol has been studied to improve absorption in topical delivery of Cannabinoids like CBD and CBG.
