You’ve no doubt have noticed the rising popularity of CBD oil and other CBD-infused products, especially as more and more countries begin to accept the many benefits CBD offers people and loosen their legal restrictions.

Many people are beginning to use CBD hemp flower, as it offers all the health benefits of cannabis without the psychoactive effects. And smokable hemp flower has been trending across the world lately.

Hemp flower is non-psychoactive so it won’t get you high, but it can help you soothe a number of ailments including certain types of pain, depression, and anxiety.

It differs from marijuana in that hemp flower contains more CBD and less THC which is what causes the high. This variety of Cannabis sativa produces products that contain less than 0.3 percent THC, which is now considered legal to possess and use in many states within the U.S. and a number of countries abroad.

Read on to find out what need to know about purchasing hemp flower and the various regulations regarding traveling with hemp flower products.

Things to Know when Buying and Traveling with Hemp Flower

Why the Hype?

In many instances, you can’t always trust in hype, but the benefits of using hemp flower have proven to be quite substantial.

You should always be a bit suspicious regarding any claims made by others, even when something like the hype of using hemp flower is warranted. Hemp flower products are only as legitimate as the seller selling them and you can easily get scammed if you don’t know what to look for.

Both marijuana and hemp plants are cannabis varieties which contain CBD, THC, and hundreds of other cannabinoids. Where they differ is how much of each compound they contain.

It is the amount of THC which concerns governments and authorities and that is why marijuana products that normally contain more than 0.3% THC are often outlawed.

Hemp flower products on the other hand usually contain less than 0.3% THC and are legal to possess and use in a number of U.S. states and countries.

While CBD oil comes from extracting it from hemp plant resin, hemp flower utilizes the entire dried flower buds which offers up the highest concentrations of beneficial compounds including cannabinoids and terpenes which I’ll discuss further in a bit.

How Hemp Flower is Used

Smoking is the most common way to gain the benefits of hemp flower and can be done so via a rolled joint or bubbler pipe. Some users also choose to vape hemp flower.

You can also use hemp flower to bake homemade edibles, make oils, or use the flowers in a dry herb vaporizer to gain the health benefits hemp flower can provide.

Smoking hemp flower buds forces the healing compounds like CBD to enter your bloodstream much more quickly, allowing you to enjoy the beneficial effects faster and with stronger effects.

Another benefit of smoking hemp flower is that it has been shown to help many cigarette smokers quit smoking and switch to a much safer alternative free of harmful tobacco.

One thing that really sets hemp flower apart from other CBD products is its aroma or fragrance. Products have what is known as a terpene profile and products from sellers like Mr Hemp Flower that contain less than .3% Delta 9 THC and are non-psychoactive, have their own unique distinctive aroma.

Some hemp flower products may smell fruity or like flowers while others produce aromas that resemble things like chocolate, cheese, or fresh tennis balls.

How to Pick out Quality Hemp Flower

As stated before, hemp flower is only as beneficial as the quality of the bud. You need to learn how to be able to judge quality hemp flower from the junk. Here are some ways to pick out quality hemp flower.

Visual Appearance

While they generally say you can’t judge a book by its cover, with hemp this isn’t really the case. While a good appearance doesn’t necessarily guarantee that you are buying good hemp, it is definitely a good place to start when looking for a quality product.

Quality hemp flowers generally come in shades of green and sometimes a hint of purple, with vibrant coloring signally a top-shelf product. You should avoid flowers which are brown, yellow, or red.

You then want to look closely at the flowers’ fine white hairs known as trichomes which should be plentiful and exhibit a frosted appearance. It is in the trichomes where all the beneficial compounds are found as well as the terpenes which give the flowers their distinct aroma.

In addition to quality trichomes, you also want your flowers to contain colored pistils which signals the plant has been properly matured.

Aroma

Your trusty nose will be your next best indicator of hemp flower quality. First off, the aroma should be natural and not some kind of artificial scent that has been added to the buds.

Hemp flowers with a high terpenes content results in a strong rich aroma and these aromas can vary but should be pleasing to you. The potency or effectiveness of a hemp product is also usually linked to the pungency.

You should avoid buds that give off little smell or no smell at all, keeping in mind that you may sometimes need to give buds a bit of a pinch to release their true scents if they have been left out for a period of time.

Only experience will truly train your nose to sniff out the aroma of good hemp over the poorer quality products.

Feel

Hemp flower should not be too dry nor too wet. Too dry and the flowers can crumble, while remaining too wet can result in the growth of harmful mold.

Luckily, mold should be visible to the naked eye. Quality flowers should have a slight crunch to them along with bit of a tacky feel.

Seeds and Stems

Because hemp flower products are usually priced according to their weight, you also want to select a product which doesn’t contain a bulk of stems and seeds.

While the stems hold the flowers together and are therefore needed, they shouldn’t be large and a product containing a lot of seeds will only see you paying extra for no reason.

A quality hemp flower should speak for itself using the guidelines mentioned above. Never trust a label, rather trust your senses.

Ask For Certifications And Legal Documents

Possession and usage of hemp flower may be legal in many U.S. States and other countries now, but it can still be a bit of a gray area.

The government (federal, state, and local) still has many regulations that govern the hemp business. We’re talking about a business that hasn’t been legal for very long and in the minds of some legislators it is still associated with malevolence activity.

While that association may not be fair, it still affects policy.

All of this leads up to one point: Make sure you are dealing with a seller who obeys all applicable regulations. For instance, let’s say you run into a hemp supplier selling products that actually produce a significant “high.” No matter what they tell you, that hemp is probably marijuana, meaning that it contains more than 0.3% THC.

While marijuana isn’t necessarily going to hurt you physically, it is an indicator that your supplier is not obeying the law and purchasing their products could land you in legal troubles.

This also means that their safety and sanitation standards are probably lax or nonexistent. Any valid hemp supplier should be able and willing to prove that they are legitimate by having the proper up-to-date documents.

Do Your Research

This advice may seem obvious but it needs to be said anyway. Before doing business with any particular hemp supplier, you should always take the time to do a little research on the company itself.

For instance, if they claim to have invented or developed a certain product, you can do a search on the U.S. Patent Office website and see if they do actually hold the relevant trademark. If you find a patent, it will probably be tied to some other helpful information about the company including its ownership and history.

Even if your patent search turns up nothing, you can still do a basic internet search to find helpful information. If the company has been in business for any reasonable length of time, you should have no problem finding customer reviews or at least a few passing mentions of their products from people that have purchased their products.

What you are looking for is proof that you are dealing with a legitimate company, as opposed to scam artists who start companies and then quickly shut them after they have made off with a lot of money.

Reputable hemp flower providers usually deal in total transparency. They shouldn’t be afraid to reveal where their products are grown or how they are processed. Reputable web-based dealers will also usually offer an easy and enjoyable online shopping experience backed by quality customer support.

Traveling with Hemp Flower

Many people get anxious when they travel and hemp flower can help ease your anxiety whether it’s caused by flying or simply the general stress of travel, as well alleviating other ailments which can help make travel much more comfortable and enjoyable.

Just because hemp flower may have been legalized where you live does not mean it will be accepted everywhere you travel. Often times there are not only different cannabinoid state laws, but regulations can also differ between countries and territories of a nation.

You alone are responsible for researching what the travel laws are regarding hemp flower and whether you will be allowed to enter a foreign country with it in your possession.

A good place to gain helpful and up-to-date rules and regulations is by contacting a customs agent or an embassy official. You can also contact airlines and airports to gain valuable information, keeping in mind the worldwide laws are constantly changing.

While a country may allow you to enter their borders with hemp flower in your possession, there may be limits to how much you can have or what it can be used for. You may even be required to show that you have a proper prescription.

Always Declare

Always declare your hemp flower and never try to conceal it. If you’re in doubt about the legality, simply don’t bring it.

The use of cannabis and CBD products are prohibited in many countries, with penalties ranging from minor monetary infringements to prison time. The level or percentage of THC in a product is one of the main defining factors when it comes to countries determining the legality of hemp flower and CBD products.

I won’t go into country specifics regarding legalities around CBD and hemp, as rules and regulations change so quickly and the information I would offer would soon be outdated. Currently, places like much of the U.S. allow products containing 0.3% THC or less, while in most of the European Union it is 0.2% or less THC.

Some countries also regulate how products can be used such as only being used as a dietary supplement or for external use only, and a prescription may be required.

The Takeaway

Although some people erroneously associate the hemp business with the illicit marijuana trade, you will be glad to know that the hemp business becoming more accepted and a lot safer.

Not only do you not have to worry about going to jail in many places for using hemp flower products, but you also don’t have to deal with criminals to get it.

You should still watch out for scam artists who will always find ways to rip people off without technically breaking the law. You should always remember the old Latin saying: “caveat emptor”, which means “let the buyer beware”.

The only way to know you’re getting a quality product is to do your research and learn what to look for.