Conclusion
Overview
I feel the overall quality Dosecann‘s CBD 50 capsules is middle of the road in terms of what I expect from CBD extracts. Despite it being an isolate based product, effects and consistency seemed better than distillate based products I’ve tried, but nearly as great as what I’ve experienced with full spectrum oils.
I really liked the simplicity, and discreteness of popping a pill over messing with oil syringes. I’m not so crazy with the lengthy onset times when swallowing the capsule whole as it’s intended to be used.
One thing to note is that their CBD 50 is not just a stronger version of their CBD 25 capsules. Unlike the CBD 25, the CBD 50 is THC-free CBD isolate. As consequence, CBD 50 contains less of the terpenes from the Carmagnola CBD strain from which it is produced.
Onset
Taken as intended, swallowing the capsule whole, I found the onset, if it came at all, could be upwards of 6 1/2 hours. The shortest onset I experienced was around 2 hours. I suppose long delays are okay if you’re swallowing pills multiple times a day everyday. Of course targeting a dose for mornings seems difficult.
This was my first time trying a cannabis capsule. I quickly grew annoyed with the delay this format seems to cause and switched to chewing the capsule open and freeing it’s contents into my mouth. Taken this way, I was often feeling the CBD take effect within 30-60 minutes.
Effects
I consider the effects to be fairly typical of what I get out of CBD. I experienced it as a mostly cerebral. A sense of calm contentedness. Relaxing qualities are the most notable characteristic.
dosing
50mg of CBD is substantially more than I typically dose with oils. I’ve tended to experiment in the 10mg-30mg range. I didn’t experience this product as being substantially more potent than others. To me this is more evidence that numbers aren’t everything when it comes to cannabis.
I opted for the 50mg capsules over Dosecann’s 25mg option as I wasn’t sure if the capsule format would slow things down. I also suspected this might be a distillate or isolate based product, and historically I’ve found distillate CBD oils to offer less of an effect per mg.
When swallowing the pill, I believe the effects did come on more gradually and felt slightly muted compared to the experience of chewing the pill open. However, even when chewed open, I would say my experience of Dosecann’s 50mg was never quite as substantial as what I’ve experienced on occasion from less than 30mg of Hemplixir oil.
Smiley’s Log
Note: For the first two session I was at the verge of coming down with a cold (At least multiple rapid test taken by my family came back negative for covid). Session 3 onwards are more representative of what I experienced when healthy.
Session 1
8:30am
Dose: 1 capsule (50mg CBD)
Taken 20 minutes before eating a bowl of granola with berries, yogurt, peanuts, and apple chunks.
12:30pm
After breakfast went tobogganing with the little one. Warmed up afterwards with hot chocolate eggnog, while watching some old family videos.
Just feel normal.
2pm
Leftover spaghetti and meatballs and persimmon for lunch. Then a bit of family crokinole practice.
Don’t really feel any noticeable CBD effect, but did have a mild headache during lunch. I think that’s likely attributable to not having the best sleep the previous two nights.
3:04pm
Worked a bit of code for this website while listening to Laurence videos playing in the background.
There moments here and there over the last hour where I thought it’s possible I’m feeling a touched more relaxed then I might be without the CBD. It’s subtle at best.
Continue Reading the Log
4:16pm
Worked on posting content for a client.
CBD effects seemed to pick up a bit over the last hour. Feel a touch of cerebral calmness.
4:54pm
Prepped for pizza making and made a salad. CBD effects are stronger now, but the headache I mentioned earlier is also there. It’s less of the dreamy stress-shedding glow I’m used to and or of a slightly mentally cloudy, of kilter feeling.
5:45pm
Pizza is colling. Helped the kid poop. Discomfort from earlier has subsided.
Session 2 (2 days later)
8:40am
Dose: 1 capsule (50mg CBD) after a slice of bread with peanut butter and honey.
Have a mild cold. Feeling congested.
22:29pm
Really forgot I had even taken the capsule for most of the day. Still feel annoyingly under the weather. I did get really into a coding project. Can’t say the CBD did anything noticeable for me at all.
Session 3 (6 days later)
9:15am
Dose: Chewed 1 capsule (50mg CBD).
Chewed one capsule. Taste like seaweed. Taken after 2 small pancakes topped with heavy cream and maple maple syrup followed by half an apple.
9:50am
Space travelling with the little one in our cardboard rocketship. Feeling a pleasant extra touch of contentedness.
10:15am
Went dancing on Pluto. Admired the wife as she was getting dressed. Feel a decent touch of a CBD induced cerebral lightness.
11:28am
Went to venus. Brushed teeth. Paid off the credit card. Ordered New Years Eve tickets to an outdoor holiday light display event.
Cerebral glow is still nice. Not strong.
1:22pm
Hiked into town to return a library book. Then walked around trying to find a nice take home lunch. Most places were still closed for the holidays.
Felt pretty ordinary during my walk. Back in the spaceship I do feel a mild sense of ease about things. Lightness around the temples.
3:30pm
Ate burritos for lunch with the family. Messed around reading things online. Feel cozy and nice with a bit of the CBD glow lingering.
Session 4 (1 day later)
9:20am
Dose: 1 capsule chewed. Taken after a slice of bread with peanut butter and honey.
11:55am
More space travel with the kid. Colouring on the ship. Playing freeze tag. Had ballet class following an online video. Put a post on social media for a client.
By 10:30 or so I started feeling the CBD. A subtle, cozy, cerebral aura.
Session 5 (1 day later))
8:30am
Dose: 1 capsule chewed after bread with peanut butter and honey.
I may have felt the CBD around 9am. Hard to say.
Session 6 (1 day later)
1:34pm
Dose: 1 capsule chewed. Taken after eating sticky rice with egg, and veggies. As well as a persimmon.
3:26pm
Work, work, work. Feeling focused. Have been feeling a bit of cerebral glow. Started not too long after taking the capsule
How are the extracts made?
Their webpage currently states they use cannabis distillate in their products. Yet, the effects seemed a little better than I would expect from distillate. I don’t feel it’s just a matter of the dosing either (I would be interested to hear if others out there feel the same way). While looking around online I also found an old news releases where they described their product as ‘broad spectrum’. I felt these two descriptions might be in conflict so asked Dosecann to confirm. I also inquired about dominant terpenes, and whether or not they use a consistent strain of flower to produce their capsules:
Our products are considered a broad-spectrum product. The source of CBD in our products is the Carmagnola variety grown in Prince Edward Island. The variety Carmagnola CBD is originally from Italy, from the area of Turin. Carmagnola is an 80/20 indica-dominant strain that’s easy to grow, easy to smoke, and easy to process into high quality CBD distillate.
Our broad spectrum cannabinoid based distillates have the majority of our terpenes removed during distillation, but there are sesquiterpenes that remain in the distillate that includes guaiol, alpha-bisabolol, beta-caryophyllene and humulene.
Brandon @ Dosecann
Is Dosecann’s CBD 50 Isolate based?
I found it odd that the 25mg version states it has 1mg THC. Whereas my bottle of the 50mg version is labelled as containing 0mg THC. Wondering what’s up with that? Dosecann told me the following:
The majority of our capsules are made with refined resin (all except the THC free CBD 50 capsule), that has much more of the remaining terpenes and would include monoterpenes if the product choice is driven by terpene content.
Brandon @ Dosecann
I still wasn’t clear on what exactly is going on with the CBD 50 Capsules. In a follow message Dosecann spelled it out for me:
The 50mg capsules are made with CBD isolate and do not contain any measurable amount of THC. The 25mg capsules are a 25:1 capsule because we use full spectrum resin where it is not possible to eliminate the THC completely.
Brandon @ Dosecann
This leaves me wondering if CBD 50 actually feels any stronger than their CBD 25 given it’s missing more cannabis stuff. As is, I feel the way these products are names is misleading, leading consumers to make assumptions that might not be true.
That said, and I might be imagining it but, this CBD isolate seemed to provide me a better experience than some less refined CBD distillate oils. How do you think it compares to other CBD products?