Delta-8 Brands to Avoid

In the crazy adventure of hemp, tricks and scams lurk around every corner, especially when it comes to delta 8. It’s like a jungle out there, folks!

Even though a lot of D8 companies make quality products and are elevating the standards of the market, there are also a lot of fly-by-night vendors who don’t see much beyond their profit in the industry.

To avoid falling victim to scammers, if you want to buy cannabis extracts, do your digging before purchasing them.

Here, we will look at some of the most common problems we’ve encountered in the delta 8 space and list some of the most important factors to consider when looking for a vendor in the delta 8 space.

Afterwards, we will list the top vendors we have discovered that meet these criteria, and we will provide a list of the scam companies you should avoid at all costs in addition to our ranking of the top vendors.

How to Tell You’re Dealing with a Reputable Delta 8 Company

It has a few minor differences from buying CBD extracts, but delta 8 products follow the same principles.

You should be able to spot a quality brand easily if you take the time to learn the warning signs that could lead you to buy low-quality, untested delta 8 products to avoid being scammed. Check out our delta-8 brands to avoid.

Third-Party Testing

In the cannabis industry, lab testing is regarded as the gold standard, not just for delta 8 but for other areas as well.

Due to the way delta 8 companies manufacture their products today, companies must conduct this testing to ensure they meet these high standards.

To make them usable, Delta 8 products need to be converted from CBD using several harsh chemicals, such as hydrochloric acid or zinc bromide.

When the Delta 8 product is extracted from marijuana plants – which might be illegal where you reside – it will need to be converted from CBD.

As a result of these chemicals in the cannabis plant, the product must be purified to be free from them after extraction, but to do so properly requires a lot of skill and advanced equipment.

Low-quality firms do not permanently remove 100% of these toxins from the final product.

To verify the claims made about the delta 9 THC content and to provide evidence that these chemicals have been removed from the tested sample, a third-party analysis of delta 8 extracts is conducted.

This provides a detailed look at the contents of the extract, the only way to ensure the chemicals mentioned above have been removed.

The test has to be conducted by a third-party laboratory for the test to qualify as third-party, and it must be completed by a lab that is not affiliated with the manufacturer; in the US, several such labs provide independent analysis of a wide range of cannabis products.

We recommend you steer clear of products from companies that fail to provide relevant third-party lab reports.

Positive Customer Reviews

It is no secret that the cannabis community is supportive and passionate about the herb. We see a lot of discussion about Delta 8 online, and forums like Reddit have many knowledgeable users.

If you are specifically interested in delta 8 products, you may want to look at the subreddits /r/delta8/ or /r/cleancarts.

It is likely that an internet search for the brand will bring up several results with comments from past customers who have had experience with that company.

The following are some warning signs that should be taken into consideration:

• Reviews with a high level of negativity are disturbingly high

• The brand is not mentioned at all in the content (probably a scam)

• We will get to this later in the article, but there are obvious indications that the company is a scam or a fake brand.

Manufacturing Practices

You need to consider the production standards of your potential vendor before making your decision.

To extract delta 8 THC from marijuana, the best method will involve extracting it directly from the plant without needing any toxic chemicals. Please note that this method may not be legal in all states.

The most popular method for producing delta 8 THC is to synthesize it from CBD. Although this method is legal at the federal level, it requires the use of chemicals.

The source of your delta 8 THC is essential to know. For example, you might violate the law if it comes from a company that uses marijuana plants.

Scam Delta 8 THC Companies to Avoid

It was in the underground space until recently that delta 8 THC was a market that existed. Before 2020, nobody knew anything about it.

As the use of virtual reality has moved into the mainstream, there are a lot of substandard products being offered by manufacturers that were previously able to get away with low-quality products – but that is no longer the case since the market has become competitive.

There is a lack of lab testing in the delta 8 space, which is the most common issue. The harsh chemicals used to produce delta 8 are not as safe as delta 8 on its own.

It is only through third-party testing that the company has done its job well if they have removed them completely from the end product.

The production of delta 8 THC can be achieved in a number of ways, as stated in the previous section:

• The safest and most effective way to extract can be obtained through the use of marijuana plants, however, this method is not legal everywhere in the US and has the tendency to be quite expensive as well.
• As far as converting delta 8 THC from delta 9 THC is concerned, that would be your second-best option as it tends to be more affordable and offers a higher level of safety, but again, it is illegal on a federal level.
• The most popular method of producing delta 8 THC is to convert CBD from hemp plants into delta 9 and then into delta 8 THC from hemp. It’s also legal, but toxic chemicals are required to achieve usable quantities.

It is critical that these products are tested by an independent laboratory because they contain harsh chemicals, such as bleach, heavy metal reagents, and acids.

Companies that don’t perform these tests, or can’t verify their results, shouldn’t be trusted.

As we move into the next section, we will explore scam delta 8 companies in more detail. We categorize them into three categories as follows:

• Vendors that are scammy or unethical – do not order from them
• There is no lab testing at all – this is a company that ignores the importance of lab testing (do not buy from them)
• There is a lack of purity testing in these companies – these companies may test their products for potency, but not for the contaminants mentioned earlier. This is another reason why we recommend avoiding these companies.

Delta-8 brands to avoid

We have compiled a list of the absolute worst delta 8 companies. Never buy from brands that have scammed their customers or lied about lab results.

1. Trulieve

Delta 8 THC is claimed to be extracted from a hemp strain named Charlotte’s Web. However, Charlotte’s Web hemp strain is not known to have significant amounts of delta 8.

Therefore, this claim of obtaining delta 8 THC from Charlotte’s Web hemp strain is almost 100% a lie intended to leverage a popular marijuana strain to persuade people into buying the product.

Another concern with Trulieve is the fact that they don’t publish lab reports for zinc chloride or zinc bromide.

2. Honey Creek Labs

A recent investigation has found that this brand has not only refused to answer questions about its manufacturing practices but has also been accused of forging lab reports.

When a Reddit user sent a sample of the company’s products to an independent lab for analysis, they did not match the batch number presented by the company, according to the reports.

There was also a 15% delta 9 THC in the sample, making it illegal in the user’s state. Honey Creek Labs claimed a delta 8 concentration over 95%. However, the product’s potency was nearly two times lower.

It is important to note that this brand does not test the safety of its products, so you can never be sure if you are getting what you paid for when you buy from this brand.

3. Cake (Just kidding) 🙂

A company offering extremely cheap delta 8 THC does not have a website, and its origins are unknown.

Companies That Don’t Publish Any Testing

We have found that some companies do not publish any independent third-party reports about their products or do not keep their tests updated once they have been published.

If the reports are not available, we write to them in an attempt to obtain them since we have found some companies do have independent third-party reports but do not publish them.

If a company tests one batch of products, publishes the report, skips this step going forward and just tests one batch at a time, then the next batch needs to be tested separately as well.

Moreover, some companies also publish tests, but they were either done in-house by the company or by a third-party testing facility that has been found to falsify the results.

These tests are considered insufficient because they are performed in-house or by these companies. Due to the fact that we cannot trust the integrity of these reports, these reports are essentially meaningless.

As a result of the clear lack of testing by these companies, they should be avoided at all costs:

1. Catskill Hemp Co
2. Cloud 8
3. Cosmo
4. Delta XL
5. Dr. Zaza
6. Earthbound Hempz
7. Hydro Hemp
8. Miracle Leaf
9. Palm Trees
10. Puff Delta 8

List of Delta 8 Companies That Provide Testing

So far, we have vetted seven companies that meet our reputable brand criteria.

1. Area 52

Despite the fact that Area 52 is relatively new, they have done a good job with ticking all the boxes when it comes to what it takes to be an effective delta 8 company.

There was only one issue we found with this company. Their tests are not publicly offered. We had to contact them to get a copy of them, but we did not find anything that stood out as being a problem.

2. 3Chi

As of now, 3Chi is the biggest player when it comes to delta 8 THC in the cannabis industry.

Known for producing a wide range of delta 8 THC products, including carts, gummies, tinctures, and capsules, this vendor manufactures a wide range of delta 8 THC products for a variety of uses.

The primary reason we recommend this company over most other delta 8 vendors is their integrity for testing.

A complete set of lab reports can be found on the website, including potency tests, contaminants, solvent tests, heavy metal tests, mycotoxins tests, and other microbial contamination tests.

All the products are tested for potency, contaminants, solvent tests, heavy metal tests, and mycotoxins tests.

3. Mr. Hemp Flower

It is our pleasure to introduce you to Mr. Hemp Flower, a premium supplier of raw hemp flowers, CBD oils, and other products derived from hemp.

As of recently, there have been a number of products offered by this company in the delta 8 space in terms of product types.

The company offers hemp flowers (raw flour and pre-rolls), gummies, carts, hash, brittles, lollipops, and honey-sticks – all of which contain delta 8 THC, which is fused with hemp.

The company offers the lab testing for each of its products on its website, but these tests aren’t the full tests.

We had to get in touch with the customer service team in order to request the comprehensive tests that included heavy metals, solvents, and full contamination tests.

Although we’re not sure why Mr. Hemp Flower doesn’t offer the full tests online by default, we are pleased with the results we received after contacting the company.

4. Arete Hemp

One of the few companies that we’ve seen in the delta 8 THC space is Arete Hemp, which provides information about the people who run the organization.

There are several delta 8 and CBD companies on the market today, but none of these companies can be said to be reachable via Twitter or LinkedIn by their founder, Todd Campanella.

Among the products this vendor manufactures, there are CBD oils, hemp flowers, and CBG concentrations – all of which are made by this vendor.

In addition to tinctures and distillates, delta 8 also provides replaceable cartridges for vaping.

The products of Arete Hemp are all tested by a third-party lab. The only caveat is that the thresholds for what constitutes a pass are not listed for the solvent and heavy metal tests from this company.

5. Delta Extract

This brand carries a lot more than just Delta 8 and appears to be releasing new products every other month.

Delta Extract, also known as Delta Effex (formerly Delta Effex), is a reputable brand with a lot of fans.

This brand not only puts a lot of effort into its products, but also on its website and blog, displaying a great level of detail and attention to detail.

6. Beebee

It is not unreasonable to say that BeeZBee has been on our “do not buy list” for quite some time, but after the company had got in touch with us with the complete panel of tests, we gave it a second look.

Even though we haven’t tried any of the products this company offers, we like the fact that it is possible to find a recent lab test for each of their products, regardless of whether they offer a CBD product or delta 8 product within their line-up.

Additionally, this company also offers the only topical delta 8 THC products that we have seen so far (combined with CBD to treat pain), which is one of the only brands we’ve seen.

7. Neurogan

It is important to note that Neurogan isn’t a delta 8 company. They’re one of the large and reputable CBD companies that are gradually making their way into the delta 8 market, although they’re not a delta 8 company.

The company has a lot of loyal customers behind them and a solid track record behind it — so you’re more likely to be able to trust them than one of the many new delta 8 startups that have been popping up all over the place, but none of them seem to be able to provide even the most basic information about their origins or executive team.