CBD Hemp Direct Review: A Huge Variety Of Smokable Hemp

And now for something completely different.

If you’re new (or relatively new) to CBD as a medicinal or health product, you’re probably familiar with CBD oil.

You may also know that cannabidiol (the complete name for CBD) can be consumed in capsule or edible form and that some topical creams are infused with CBD to help with surface-level aches, pains, and skin conditions. You may even know that vaping CBD isn’t just possible, it’s a fast and effective way to get cannabidiol into your body and working quickly.

But did you know that you can also smoke it just like weed?

That’s the specialty of CBD Hemp Direct. The company sells a mind-blowing (no pun intended) assortment of flower, kief, trim, joints and blunts with high CBD content, all produced from the hemp plant rather than the marijuana plant.

Hemp has less than 0.3% THC content, so the products don’t produce any psychoactive effects – only the power of cannabidiol. And since these are (by their very nature) full-spectrum CBD products, they also contain the hemp’s other components like cannabinoids, terpenes, and flavonoids, maximizing the potency of the CBD via the “entourage effect.”

CBD Hemp Direct doesn’t have the usual assortment of oil, capsules, and edibles (although they do one type of oil and also sell gummies during the cooler months). Their version of variety means offering many types and strains of CBD-rich hemp, as well as products with high levels of the cannabinoid CBG which is also believed to have medicinal benefits.

Sound intriguing? We thought so. Here’s an in-depth look at CBD Hemp Direct.

CBD Hemp Direct: The Background

The company claims to be the “original CBD flower company.” We don’t know if that’s literally true, but CBD Hemp Direct has been operating (under the corporate name Trim Ready Inc.) in Nevada since 2015. It also owns what it says is the first “CBD dispensary superstore” that the public can visit, Hemp World, located on Paradise Road near the Las Vegas airport.

CBD Hemp Direct grows much of its own industrial hemp but also sources some of its flowers from West Coast growers. Other than that, there’s not much information available on the company, either on its website or through our independent investigation.

There is one piece of information on the website which is prominently displayed: CBD Hemp Direct won the 2020 High Times Hemp Cup in the “best pre-rolls” category, for its Paradise OG Hemp Kief Joint. That doesn’t completely overcome the lack of detailed information made public by the CBD Hemp Direct, but it does make us feel much better about the company and its products.

One note: CBD Hemp Direct should not be confused with a similarly-named company, Hemp Direct, which also sells CBD smokables as well as a number of other products.

CBD Hemp Direct: The Approach

You already know the bedrock approach of CBD Hemp Direct: focus on producing smokable hemp for sale direct to consumers, rather than CBD oil and other more “mainstream” products. Only one CBD oil, made from isolate, is on the menu.

The company grows most of its own industrial hemp, with the strains bred for high cannabidiol (or CBG) content. They’re chosen to thrive in the sometimes-challenging Nevada climate; we’re guessing that’s why CBD Hemp Direct also sources some hemp flower from the West Coast, where hemp can be easier to grow. Some of CBD Hemp Direct’s plants are grown in greenhouses as well.

Many of the strains have been given Las Vegas-centric names, like Casino Cookies and Trophy Wife, but they’re either closely related to – or simply renamed – better-known cannabis strains. There are also choices whose labels will provide comfort to pot/hemp connoisseurs, like Acapulco Gold and Girl Scout Cookies.

Most of the factors we look at when checking out a producer’s manufacturing techniques, like how cannabidiol is extracted from hemp plants and the type of carrier oil that’s used, obviously aren’t an issue when a company primarily sells hemp flower and its byproducts. However, we definitely want to know whether the hemp is grown organically – and CBD Hemp Direct makes no disclosures about its growing practices. We take that to mean that its CBD (and CBG) products are not organically-grown, something that does concern us.

CBD Hemp Direct focuses on growing cannabidiol-rich strains of hemp, which is definitely a positive sign, as is the fact that smokable hemp will automatically provide the full entourage effect that maximizes the benefit of CBD.

We should also briefly highlight the company’s secondary focus on CBG-rich products. Cannabigerol is a cannabinoid found in both marijuana and hemp, and it doesn’t receive the attention it should. CBG, like THC, binds directly with the CB1 and CB2 endocannabinoid receptors in the body; CBD, by comparison, interacts with those receptors in an indirect way.

For that reason, CBG has its own medicinal properties. It’s believed to work well as a treatment for bowel issues, glaucoma, and even cancer, perhaps even more effectively than CBD. It speaks to CBD Hemp Direct’s understanding of hemp that the company specifically grows hemp high in CBG, and produces dedicated CBG product lines for sale.

CBD Hemp Direct Products

We normally separate our reviews of a company’s various products into categories for oil, capsules, edibles, and so on. We’re electing to bunch them all together for CBD Hemp Direct since they’re all different “versions” of the hemp plant. Just about all products are available in both CBD-rich and CBG-rich varieties.

This list will be old hat to regular weed smokers, but CBD-only consumers may need a brief glossary to understand the products offered by CBD Direct Hemp.

• CBD Flower: The dried, easily-smokable part of the plant
• CBD Small Buds: Smaller flower buds from the plant, which are usually of lesser quality
• CBD Kief: The more-potent resin glands collected from the plant
• CBD Kief Nugs: Flower sprayed with hash oil and dusted with kief
• CBD Moon Rocks: A different form of kief nugs
• CBD Trim: The excess leaves and trimmings from the plant, usually lower-quality
• CBD Hash: Concentrated resin from the plant, high-quality
• CBD Joints, Blunts, and Cigars: Different ways of rolling and smoking the plant
• CBD Concentrates: A THC-free wax product that can be smoked instead of flower

CBD Hemp Direct sells its products in all of these forms, although some may be out of stock at times.

The strains available can also vary at times, but the company offers approximately 15 different strains of CBD-rich flower and three strains of CBG-rich flower. The strains generally contain between 15 and 25% CBD (and of course, <0.3% THC), and almost all are Sativa-dominant hybrids.

Some of their most-potent CBD strains are Paradise OG (24% CBD), Honolulu Haze (22.5% CBD), and Hemp World Haze (22% CBD); the three CBG strains (Paradise, Desert Flower, and Jazzy) all have approximately 20% CBG content. The individual website pages detail strain information including lineage, aroma, flavor, and general effect, as well as the strain’s cannabinoid profile and potency level. We liked those all of the details being available, a lot. The greatest selection of strains is offered for flower purchases; there are fewer options when buying the hemp in other forms.

Flower and kief nugs can be purchased in small amounts like 1.5 and 5 grams, or larger amounts like a quarter- and half-pounds. Small buds (the company’s most popular product) are sold in 30 gram and quarter-pound amounts, trim is available in half-pound and full-pound bags, and joints, blunts, and cigars can be purchased individually or in bulk. The concentrate is sold in half- and one-gram jars.

We mentioned earlier that CBD Hemp Direct offers one type of CBD oil. It’s Honolulu Haze, which is made from CBD isolate and contains approximately 34mg/ml of cannabidiol, MCT carrier oil, and natural mint flavoring.

Not many companies specialize in selling CBD (and CBG) flower and related products, so it’s somewhat difficult to compare costs. Generally speaking, though, CBD Hemp Direct is solidly in the midrange of prices charged by online vendors.

That might lead you to expect that quality would also be in the midrange – and you’d be right. There are companies that produce more potent or more effective smokable CBD-rich hemp (at a higher price), but CBD Hemp Direct offers decently-performing products which are pretty effective. And the smoking experience, when it comes to flavor and aroma, is definitely among the most pleasurable you’ll find.

CBD Hemp Direct: The Verdict

Most people who take CBD for their medical issues or for cannabidiol’s possible health benefits don’t smoke it. In truth, most probably wouldn’t want to, unless they’re already regular smokers or vapers.

It’s definitely an option worth considering, though, since it’s an effective way to get cannabidiol into your bloodstream and brain. And if you’re interested in giving it a try, CBD Hemp Direct’s enormous stock of flower, kief, concentrate, pre-rolled joints, and related products give you a huge selection of dosing methods to choose from – perhaps a better choice than you’ll see from any other online source.

The quality is good, not great (with a few exceptions like the Hemp Cup-winning pre-rolls). Prices are good, not inexpensive but definitely not too high. The (apparently) non-organic hemp is somewhat of a concern, but not necessarily a deal-breaker.

In short, CBD Hemp Direct sells a decent product, with a menu of hemp options that make a visit to their site (or Las Vegas store) worth the effort.