CBD oil has never been more popular, but what goes into the cost we pay at our local dispensary?
CBD products can take many forms from bulk CBD concentrate to CBD vape pens with a 510 thread battery. Even gummies have gotten CBD variations along with topicals and other products. CBD is everywhere, but the costs are still a mystery for many consumers.
Here’s how CBD prices are calculated as well as the manufacturing and retails factors that go into determining how much CBD products should cost.
What Does CBD Oil Cost?
The CBD oil is fairly complicated to unpack. This is due to a few reasons that are unique to the CBD market. Whether you’re buying gummies or getting the best CBD vape pens with a fresh 510 thread battery, you’ll be paying a premium for high-end products.
The CBD market is still very new, and it exists in a legal gray space. While the 2018 Farm Bill legalized CBD on a federal level, many states and local jurisdictions did not follow suit.
This means that CBD also has more regulatory standards than other consumer products. One way to think about it is that it is much more difficult to produce a CBD gummy than it is to produce a regular chewable candy.
This means that CBD products can have up to a 400% markup from the cost of materials and labor. All products have some markup which is how a business makes a profit, but the average markup across Industries is only 40%.
The cost of CBD products starts with the bulk cost of CBD for manufacturers. This can be somewhere between 3 to $15 for a 1,000 mg bottle. That means that on an industrial level, a CBD costs a few cents to a fraction of a cent per milligram.
Once it hits the store shelves, CBD products often cost somewhere between $0.02 to $0.20 per milligram. This is a significant markup and a wide variation in cost, but that has to do with the different types of CBD products and how they are priced differently.
The Math Behind CBD Prices
Now we’re going to go over a basic calculation that you can do on the fly to find out how much you are paying for your CBD products.
This cost simply looks at how many milligrams of CBD you’re getting in your product, the overall price of the product, and finds out how much you’re paying per milligram for CBD.
As a general rule, it’s okay to pay more for CBD depending on how it was produced. CBD made from organic, pesticide-free hemp typically costs more. CBD also costs more if it’s been thoroughly tested by a third-party laboratory for both CBD and THC levels, but also for things like residual solvents and pesticides.
Here’s the math to calculate how much you’re paying for mg of CBD.
Price ÷ total mg CBD = price per mg of CBD
This means that a $30 bottle of CBD oil that contains 100mg of CBD will be costing you $0.30 per mg of CBD. In this case, that would be either a very high-end product or a potential sign that you are paying more than you should for that CBD product.
Remember, the average price range per mg of CBD is between $0.02 to $0.20.
The Price of CBD Products
The cost of CBD oil is going to depend on the product that the CBD oil is in. CBD tinctures and vapes tend to be the most cost-effective while CBD creams and lotions are the most expensive. CBD edibles have a high variance in price owing to the differences in the types of food the CBD has been added to.
Let’s take a look at a few common product categories and how much the CBD costs in each product.
CBD Vape Pens
The cost of CBD vape pens with a 510 thread battery is very affordable as far as CBD per mg costs go.
CBD vape pens offer you the best pricing. These can cost as low as 7 cents per mg of CBD all the way up to 20 cents per milligram or even more. Average prices are somewhere between 10 and 18 cents per milligram of CBD.
The cost goes down a little bit depending on factors like branding, the volume of your purchase, and whether or not you’re just buying cartridges or an entire vape pen.
CBD Tinctures
CBD tinctures have some of the widest price variance when it comes to purchasing CBD by mg. Low quality CBD tinctures can cost you as little as $0.04 per milligram which is close to what companies pay for bulk CBD.
High-end products can cost 20 cents per mg or more. This wide variance and price has to do with the quality of the ingredients. Organic and thoroughly tested products are going to cost more than CBD tinctures made with lower regulatory standards.
In general, this is definitely one of those products where you want to spend a little bit more to ensure that you’re getting something of a much higher quality.
CBD Concentrates
CBD concentrates are single-handedly the most cost-effective way to purchase CBD. This is about as close as you can get to buying CBD in bulk directly from a manufacturer. This does come with the added challenge of knowing how to dose CBD concentrates, but with a little bit of learning you could save tons of money on your CBD.
CBD concentrates typically cost well under $0.10 per milligram. Average prices hover around $0.05 per milligram and depend on the volume of your purchase as well as the quality of the products to begin with.
What About CBD Flower?
You can find strains of hemp flower that are CBD focussed and contain little THC. These are often available at dispensaries and are a great way to get the benefits of CBD without having to worry about tinctures, edibles, and concentrates.
On a technical level, CBD flower is the most cost-effective way to purchase CBD. CBD flower does not have to go through any of the extraction or testing processes that other CBD products have to go through. This cuts down on overhead and pricing. However, you are going to be purchasing a smokable flower rather than a premade product.
You can find strands of flower that have around a 25% CBD concentration. If you’re purchasing the average of an eighth of CBD flower, that will get you about 875 mg of CBD per eighth. You can expect this to cost somewhere around $20 to $45.
CBD flower typically cost less than THC flower at a dispensary. However, as CBD flower becomes more popular there are going to be more hybrids and strains that could see the price of CBD change over the next few years.
The Future of CBD Prices
CBD oil is more popular than ever before. Whether it’s CBD gummies for stress relief or CBD vape pens, the 2018 Farm Bill ushered in a new era for the CBD market.
This is going to have some major impacts on the future of CBD prices. As consumers, we can expect the market to hold steady for a while.
CBD is still finding its footing across the country. There are many communities where these products have yet to hit store shelves and they still exist in something of a legal gray area throughout the nation.
However, things are trending towards legalization for CBD and cannabis products. As these become more widely available, we can expect to see the price change for CBD and cannabis products alike.
This is going to be a decrease in cost for some of the entry-level products, but also an increase in cost for higher-end options. Will have more choices between purchasing bulk CBD or getting the best CBD vape pens that the market has to offer.
This is an exciting time to be a fan of CBD products and we’re looking at a future with some of the best CBD ever being in reach.
How to Save on CBD
You cannot figure out the cost per milligram of your favorite CBD products.
This gives you the knowledge that you need to find a few best prices on CBD no matter where you’re shopping. Whether you are looking to buy some CBD vape pens with a new 510 thread battery or you just want CBD oil to try and make your own gummies, you can find a price that’s right for you and know how to get a fair value for your CBD.
