What Is CO2 Oil? Understanding A Common Term In The Weed World

Many cannabis users are perfectly happy smoking a joint or hitting a pipe, whether they’re seeking the medical benefits marijuana provides or they just want to get high.

These days, however, there’s much more variety in the weed world than there used to be. There are edibles, tinctures, topical products — and one of the fastest-growing segments of the market, cannabis concentrates. Old-school products like hash are concentrates as well, but new technology has led to the creation of superior options.

Concentrates are what their name implies. The most important parts of a cannabis plant, the trichomes and resin containing most of marijuana’s cannabinoids, terpenes, and flavonoids, are separated and concentrated to create an extremely potent product.

For example, the psychoactive THC content of high-end weed may hit 25-30%. In some concentrates, though, THC content may reach 90%. Popular cannabis concentrates like wax, shatter, crumble, and live resin are primarily defined by their textures, and are usually smoked with a specialized dab rig or vaped in a vaporizer.

One of the most popular cannabis concentrates is known as CO₂ oil, created through a complicated process called supercritical CO₂ extraction. Carbon dioxide is a clean solvent that strips the potent trichomes from cannabis plants without leaving hazardous residue behind.

The final product can be turned into wax, shatter, or other concentrates to be dabbed, or an oil that’s ideal for use in vape pens or vaporizers. Many use the term CO₂ oil to describe all textures of the concentrate that’s produced, but others only use “CO₂ oil” to refer to oil that’s vaped.

CO₂ oil might also describe a very different product: the CBD oil that’s available online and in an enormous number of pharmacies, corner shops, gas stations, and online. Most people simply call that product CBD oil, but it’s produced in the same way as the cannabis CO₂ oil we’ve discussed and could be called CO₂ oil by some vendors or users.

Instead of cannabis plants, hemp plants undergo supercritical CO₂ extraction to separate the hemp’s trichomes and create a clean, solvent-free concentrate that’s rich in CBD. When combined with a so-called “carrier oil,” the CBD appears to deliver a huge number of medical benefits without making users intoxicated.

Those are the basics, but there’s much more to tell. If you’re interested, keep reading.

THC and CBD

Before discussing the ways that THC and CBD can be extracted and used, let’s quickly explain what they are and how they differ.

THC (tetrahydrocannabinol) and CBD (cannabidiol) are the two most important plant compounds found in cannabis and hemp plants. They’re two of more than 100 compounds known as cannabinoids and contained in the plants, their chemical structures are very similar, and they each provide a wealth of apparent medical benefits.

However, THC is psychoactive while CBD is non-intoxicating and doesn’t impair users in any way. That’s because the two cannabinoids interact with different parts of the body’s endocannabinoid system (ECS) due to the small difference in their structures.

Most people know that THC is responsible for the high they experience when using marijuana or other cannabis products. That cannabinoid isn’t extracted from hemp plants because they contain very little THC. However, they contain lots of CBD, which is why cannabidiol is extracted from hemp to manufacture CBD products. (There’s very little CBD in cannabis.)

With the background out of the way, let’s discuss how THC and CBD are turned into oil for consumption or use.

Extracting THC from Cannabis

People have been using and smoking cannabis for millennia. One of their early discoveries was that potent cannabis resin glands could be physically separated from the rest of the plant to create hashish, a type of concentrate that was used extensively throughout India, China, and Persia. It eventually made its way to the Western world in the 18^th century.

Hash is made in several ways. Cannabis can be rubbed in the hands, with the sticky resin that remains formed into a ball. The plant material can be brushed across a graduated series of small screens to catch trichomes that fall through (creating “kief”), or the plants can be submerged in ice water so the trichomes fall off and can be sifted out (creating “bubble hash”).

Those mechanical methods of creating cannabis concentrates are still used extensively today by home growers and users, and over the years people found new ways to extract trichomes from cannabis plants with pressure and/or heat. In the 1970s, though, producers and users learned that they could create concentrates with the use of solvents.

These more complicated (and sometimes, more dangerous) processes use solvents like ethanol, butane, or methanol to strip trichomes from cannabis plants. It’s done with so-called “closed-loop extraction,” using the solvent to collect the trichomes, purging the possibly hazardous solvents, and collecting the final product in forms that are usually dabbed.

The most expensive and effective method, used by high-end producers, is supercritical CO₂ extraction. Carbon dioxide is pressurized and heated to a temperature that turns the CO₂ into an ideal solvent for stripping trichomes from cannabis. The carbon dioxide has the properties of both a gas and a liquid and leaves no solvent remaining in the final product.

The end product of supercritical CO₂ extraction is a concentrate that can be turned into products that can be dabbed like wax, shatter, or crumble — or used to make what’s usually called CO₂ oil, perfect for use in THC vape pens or vaporizers. Many users prefer vaping CO₂ oil because it retains virtually all of the plant’s original cannabinoid profile, as well as its scent and flavor.

You’ll often see CO₂ oil packaged in vape cartridges or sold in disposable vape pens. Vaping the oil is one of the simplest (and least messy) ways to enjoy the benefits of cannabis.

Remember though; if you see “dabbing products” like shatter, wax, or budder, and they’ve been created with the high-end CO₂ extraction method, they’re essentially CO₂ oil as well.

Producing CBD Oil

The retail market for CBD products has exploded in recent years, now that most Western governments have legalised the sale and use of cannabidiol. Consumers can buy CBD edibles, CBD topicals, CBD vapes, CBD capsules — and the most popular product of all, CBD oil.

The oil can be administered in two ways. It can be added to food or beverages, or dropped under the tongue in what’s called sublingual administration. The latter is a more effective and faster way to receive the cannabidiol’s apparent benefits.

But where does CBD oil come from?

Extracting CBD

If it’s been manufactured by a high-end company, CBD oil is created with cannabidiol extracted by the same supercritical CO₂ method we’ve been discussing. Heated and pressurized carbon dioxide is pumped through a closed-end system to strip hemp’s trichomes and create a concentrated CBD product.

(Other methods, similar to the alternative mechanical and solvent processes used to create THC concentrates, can also be used to produce CBD concentrates — but they can’t match the quality of CO₂ extraction.)

CBD Oil produced with the CO₂ method, of course, doesn’t deliver the psychoactive effects provided by THC CO₂ oil. And there’s another big difference between them. Let’s dig into that.

What’s in CBD Oil?

Users can enjoy CBD’s apparent benefits by smoking raw hemp, but most people prefer not to go that route since it won’t make them high (and it’s illegal in some nations, like the UK). It’s essentially the same story for dabbing the cannabidiol extracted from hemp; it can be found in wax, shatter, and other forms, but for the majority of users it’s not worth the effort.

Instead, CBD is generally consumed or vaped. And since cannabidiol isn’t absorbed well in the body, it’s combined with a so-called “carrier” that increases the cannabinoid’s bioavailability. That means the CBD oil you purchase isn’t simply concentrated CBD extracted with the CO₂ method. The cannabidiol is combined with a carrier oil.

The oils chosen most often used to create CBD oil are MCT oil, coconut oil, and olive oil. They’re chosen because they quickly move through the digestive system (if the oil is mixed with food or beverages, or contained in CBD capsules), and because they boost the bioavailability and effectiveness of the cannabidiol they’re mixed with.

Some manufacturers may add flavorings or other health and wellness ingredients to their products, but for the most part, CBD oil is a combination of an extracted cannabinoid concentrate (CBD) and a carrier oil — not just the concentrated cannabinoid (THC) that is usually called “CO₂ oil.”

What About Vaping or Dabbing CBD Oil?

In three words: don’t do it.

You can vape or dab CO₂ oil or other THC concentrates. You can vape or dab most CBD concentrates, although most people don’t choose to do it (or it’s illegal where they live).

However, it’s dangerous to vape or dab the CBD oil you buy at a shop or online. Not only is it too thick to be vaped effectively, but the carrier oils contained in CBD oil produce dangerous vapor or smoke when heated to high temperatures. A number of lung problems, including a serious form of pneumonia, can be caused by vaping or dabbing CBD oil.

Instead, CBD vape juice (sometimes called CBD vape liquid) is specially designed to be used in vape pens or vaporizers, and it doesn’t contain a carrier oil. A food-safe fat like propylene glycol (PG) or vegetable glycerin (VG) is added to extracted cannabidiol concentrate to make a liquid that doesn’t cause the health problems associated with vaping CBD oil.

Summary

“CO₂ oil” is generally used to describe a cannabis concentrate that’s vaped, but the term can cause confusion.

Literally speaking, CO₂ oil describes any concentrate that’s been produced by extracting THC from cannabis with the supercritical CO₂ method. That includes CO₂ oil for vaping, but also shatter, wax, and other popular cannabis products used for dabbing. The names of those other products describe their texture, but they’re still concentrated CO₂ oil and they’ll all get you high.

The potential confusion is even greater when adding non-intoxicating CBD oil to the discussion. It’s a combination of CBD concentrate extracted with the same CO₂ method, and a carrier oil that makes the cannabidiol more effective in the body. Unlike cannabis CO₂ oil, CBD oil is consumed and is hazardous to vape. You need special vape juice if you want to vape CBD.

If you’re still not sure what a website or store is referring to when they label a product as “CO₂ oil,” though, ask before purchasing. It may prevent you from making a big mistake.

Shop our CBD products:

• CBD oils
• CBD gummies
• CBD capsules
• CBD creams
• CBD patches
• CBD vape pens
• CBD vape juice