Many CBD users have experienced opening their tincture to find cloudy CBD oil instead of the usual clear liquid. Whether you’ve noticed your CBD oil turning cloudy after storage, becoming cloudy after refrigeration, or appearing murky right after purchase, these changes in appearance can be concerning. CBD oil cloudiness is a common occurrence that leads many people to ask if cloudy CBD oil is bad, unsafe to consume, or less effective. Rest assured – cloudiness in CBD oil often has natural explanations related to temperature changes, cannabinoid concentration, and carrier oil composition.
This guide examines why CBD oil becomes cloudy, what cloudiness means for CBD oil quality, and how to determine if your cloudy CBD oil is still safe to use.
Why Is My CBD Oil cloudy?
This article on cloudy CBD oil is going to be a little heavy on the science side. I will try my best to explain what’s going on with your cloudy CBD oil in an easy-to-understand way.
Have you noticed your CBD oil looking cloudy or hazy instead of its usual clear appearance? This change in appearance, while concerning for many users, is actually a natural phenomenon that occurs under specific conditions. Let’s explore what causes this cloudiness and what it means for your CBD oil’s quality.
Understanding CBD Oil Composition
CBD oil consists of two main components:
- CBD extract: A concentrated form of cannabidiol derived from hemp plants
- Carrier oil: A food-grade oil that helps deliver the CBD and improves absorption
When these components interact with certain environmental conditions, particularly temperature changes, they can create a cloudy or crystallized appearance. This reaction occurs because of the natural properties of both the CBD extract and the carrier oil.
What Causes CBD Oil to Become Cloudy?
The primary reason for cloudiness in CBD oil is a process called crystallization. This occurs when:
- Temperature Changes: When CBD oil is exposed to cold temperatures, the natural compounds begin to solidify and form tiny crystals – similar to how olive oil can become cloudy in your refrigerator.
- Concentration Effects: Higher-concentration CBD oils are more likely to show this effect because they contain more CBD molecules that can crystallize.
- Carrier Oil Properties: Different carrier oils react differently to temperature changes. For example, MCT oil (medium-chain triglyceride oil), a common carrier oil in premium CBD products, can develop a cloudy appearance when cold but typically returns to clear when warmed.
What Are the Crystals Made Of?
These crystals are pure CBD in solid form. The lipid carrier (whether it’s MCT oil, grape seed oil, or hemp seed oil) has separated from the CBD extract, resulting in the latter taking on a solid form.
This is similar to the crystallized appearance of THC that can sometimes form on the exterior of cannabis flowers and leaves.
The crystals that you see in your cloudy CBD oils is what CBD looks like when it comes out of suspension. Other cannabinoids, like CBC, or CBN look the same when looked at from the eye. You’d have to zoom in very, very close to see a different between CBD and other cannabinoids.
The crystals make up a lattice-type formation that is going to be almost pure CBD.
Lattice Formation Explained
From a chemical point of view, both THC and CBD have closely related molecular characteristics, and they both take on the form of a crystalline lattice. A lattice is a crossed structure and can result in diamond or square-shaped spaces in between the compounds.
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These crystals are the purest form of concentrate that exists. But while that may sound like a good thing, it’s not. The crystallized mixture often results in varying dosage levels if you were to use a dropper to extract the liquid.
For example, under normal circumstances, 1 mL of your oil would have 32 mg of CBD. Keep in mind though, when this mixture crystallizes, parts of that same liquid may hold higher concentrations of CBD.
You could extract anywhere from 0 to 200+ mg of CBD, depending on the number of crystals that made it into the dropper.
At New Phase Blends, we mix our CBD extract with a carrier oil to provide an even and accurate amount of CBD per mL of oil. When the CBD has separated and crystallized, you lose that ability to dose accurately.
What Makes the CBD Crystallize?
As mentioned earlier, we combine CBD-rich extract with organic MCT oil to make our products. During this process, the CBD extract becomes suspended in the MCT oil, resulting in an even and constant amount of CBD throughout the entire bottle.
Depending on how much CBD is in the oil, the mixture will generally remain stable. According to the National Library of Medicine, “The stability of this formulation [oil suspended compounds] was assessed considering particle size distribution, settling volume ratio, re-dispersibility, thermal stability, and drug content.”
This process is called — you guessed it — “suspension.”
CBD Suspension Explained
During suspension, we make sure that there’s an even ratio of CBD to carrier oil throughout the entire mixture. For context, if a New Phase Blends product has 1,000 mg of broad-spectrum CBD, I want to be POSITIVE that for every 1 mL of fluid, there is 33.2 mg of CBD extract in it.
Suspending the correct amount of CBD extract in our carrier oil ensures this outcome. In a good mixture, no cloudy effect from the CBD oil can be noticed.
Take a look at this incredible picture from Kush showing a large scale of phytocannabinoid crystallization. These crystals are obviously large enough to be held with your hands, but what happens in a bottle of CBD is essentially the same — tiny CBD crystals suspended in oil.
What you see here are hexagonal (six-sided) crystals, which is also the form CBD takes when it crystallizes. If you placed a drop of cloudy CBD oil under a microscope, you would see several six-sided crystals, just like the ones in the image.
When exposed to extreme conditions, the CBD oil can come out of suspension and crystallize. I would say that 99 times out of 100, this problem happens because of poor shipping procedures. The product likely sat in a very hot or cold environment during the shipping process.
This normally wouldn’t matter in a situation where you would use CBD gummies for pain, because the gummies are single servings. It does matter in a product like CBD oil drops, where the entire tincture can become compromised.
Is Cloudy CBD Oil Safe to Use?
Yes. The product isn’t toxic or poisonous in nature — it’s just no longer suspended properly. We need to heat the oil back up to promote the chemical binding of the CBD extract and the oil carrier.
As a general rule of thumb, poor quality CBD oils will turn cloudy easier than premium quality stuff will. There are always exceptions, but this is generally true.
The CBD can also come out of suspension because it was never properly suspended to begin with. For example, if you combine a little MCT oil with a dash of CBD isolate powder, you’re technically creating CBD oil. You can shake it around vigorously, and it would look OK.
However, over time, you will notice some of the CBD isolate powder settling at the bottom and maybe even some crystallized CBD floating around the oil. This is because it wasn’t suspended properly.
What Should I Do to Remove the Cloudy CBD Oil Appearance?
If you order a CBD oil or tincture and it arrives looking cloudy, I strongly recommend immediately contacting your provider and asking for a refund. It’s not your fault that the product was shipped under conditions that affected its quality.
But what if you accidentally kept your CBD in the fridge or left it in an area exposed to sunlight? The good news is that you can easily restore your CBD into a suspended state.
Methods for Correcting Your Cloudy CBD at Home
When your CBD oil becomes cloudy, you can often restore its clear appearance through simple temperature adjustment methods at home. However, before attempting any fixes, it’s important to understand that cloudiness doesn’t necessarily mean your CBD oil has gone bad – it’s often just a natural response to temperature changes or settling of plant compounds.
While this method is by no means a guarantee, you can, in a pinch, help the crystallized CBD to bind back to its lipid carrier oil (oil base) on any household stove.
- Boil a pot of water and gently place the CBD oil (sealed tightly) in the water using a pair of tongs. Use oven mitts and be careful when working over an open flame or hot surface.
- Gently shake the bottle around with the tongs, being careful not to burn yourself. See if the crystals slowly go away. If they do, that means the CBD extract is now suspended properly in the carrier oil.
- You can also try microwaving the CBD oil for no more than 5–10 seconds at a time to see if you can get a similar result. It should turn clear and resemble the CBD oil in the picture below. This should only be a last resort, as microwaving can lead to unpredictable results.
When Not to Fix Cloudy CBD Oil
While cloudiness is often harmless, avoid attempting to fix your CBD oil if:
- The oil has an unusual or rancid smell
- The cloudiness is accompanied by visible mold
- The product is well past its expiration date
- The oil has been exposed to extreme temperatures or direct sunlight
- The consistency has become thick or chunky
In these cases, it’s safer to replace the product rather than attempt to fix it.
Summary
So, cloudy CBD oil is just crystallized phytocannabinoids. This crystallization process is harmless, but it does affect your ability to take accurate doses of CBD products. As a general rule of thumb, premium CBD oils will not become cloudy, while poor quality products may.
Your CBD can get cloudy due to the following reasons:
- Exposure to extreme temperatures
- Poor product quality
- Incorrect manufacturing techniques
- Improper storage of CBD
While it’s not perfect, you can restore cloudy CBD oil into a suspended state with some simple steps. But even if you can fix it, I would still recommend letting your CBD vendor know that their product arrived in a cloudy form.
Perhaps they can adjust their manufacturing processes to make it harder for their products to come out of suspension.
