Diamond CBD Reviews: Synthetic Cannabinoids? Products and Brand (2022)

There’s a reason that so-called “superstores” are popular. (The actual stores, not the TV show of the same name.)

Convenience is more important in our lives than ever before, so being able to shop for a huge variety of products in one trip is a major benefit. That’s true for brick and mortar stores – and it’s one of the reasons that Amazon has become the predominant online seller in America.

CBD has only been legal for sale in all fifty states for a few years. Just a few years before that, cannabidiol (the full name for CBD) wasn’t even a product you could find anywhere.

But a number of CBD online “superstores” have already cropped up, offering an enormous selection of CBD products in every category you can imagine.

One of the most prominent of those superstores belongs to Diamond CBD, which has the added advantage of name familiarity; its products are wholesaled to numerous stores throughout the country. The company’s full range of products, though, is only available on its website – and there are hundreds of hemp-derived products to sort through. That’s a lot, by any industry measure.

Quick growth – and there’s no question that Diamond CBD falls into that category, as its sales now rank in the top ten of all American CBD companies – can often mean lower quality. It’s not easy to maintain standards when you’re manufacturing and selling that much cannabidiol.

As you’ll learn in our review, the company has apparently kept its product quality high even as it has ramped up operations. However, there are a few red flags you should know about as well.

Here are the details.

Diamond CBD Review: The Background

You have to dig a little to find out that Diamond CBD, which was founded in 2015 and is based in Florida, has some pretty big resources behind its operation. The brand is owned by a corporation called Potnetwork Holdings, which owns other brands like Relax CBD, Chill Gummies, and Meds Biotech, and is publicly traded as an over-the-counter stock. We’re unable to determine if the corporation sells the same products under all of its brand names, or manufactures them separately.

Potnetwork Holdings calls itself “a global cannabis industry leader” which is “dedicated to research, developing and multi-national marketing of premium hemp products,” but also “focused on delivering long-term shareholder growth and results.”

Shareholder growth and results are certainly laudable aims for any publicly-traded firm. The problem is that CBD companies operating on that scale may be more focused on expansion and shareholders than they are on quality and consumers.

That brings us to the red flags we mentioned. First, in 2019 Diamond CBD received a warning from the FDA for making misleading health claims, which have since been retracted.

More important were the 2018 findings of researchers at a major Virginia University, who investigated several prominent CBD brands. They found that some of Diamond’s CBD vape juices contained a hazardous compound – which users had complained was making them high.

The compound, 5F-ADB, is commonly used in “synthetic marijuana” products known by names like Spice or K2. It can trigger panic attacks, high blood pressure, convulsions, or even death. There was also dextromethorphan in one of the vape juices; that’s an ingredient found in some cough syrups which can cause health problems in some users.

At the time, Diamond CBD said that it had retested its products, recalled any that contained those substances, and changed its formulations to ensure no further issues. And there haven’t been reports of problems since then.

However, that background makes it even more important to look closely at Diamond CBD’s products, and how they’re manufactured.

Diamond CBD: The Approach

Diamond certainly makes a point of offering a huge variety of CBD products. That gives buyers a big choice, of course, but it also makes shopping on the company’s website a very confusing experience – particularly because products from the parent company’s other brands are also sold on the site.

All of the hemp that’s used to produce those products is organically-grown and non-GMO, sourced from farms in Kentucky, Colorado, and Scandinavia. All three areas have climates that are conducive to growing hemp, and America and Scandinavia each have some of the strongest farming regulations in the world.

Cannabidiol is extracted from the hemp via the supercritical CO2 method, which is viewed by most in the industry as the choice that maintains the greatest amount of the CBD’s potency. Diamond produces both full-spectrum and CBD isolate products; here’s why that choice is good.

Full-spectrum cannabidiol retains all of the other components of hemp, including cannabinoids, terpenes, and flavonoids, which work together to boost the effectiveness of CBD. CBD isolate products are preferred by those who want to be sure that the tiny amount of THC (less than 0.3%) naturally contained in hemp won’t show up on a drug test. Being able to decide between the two is optimal for consumers.

Diamond CBD claims that its products are all-natural. Since they sell literally hundreds of products, we’ve been unable to check ingredient lists for every single product. But we have found artificial flavorings used in some of their oils – even though the product write-ups say all flavorings are natural and organic. We still, of course, remember the company’s 2018 synthetic 5F-ADB issue in which ingredients were used without being disclosed. That makes us a bit cautious.

One final note: the carrier oil used in Diamond’s products is, in most cases, a less than optimal choice.

Here’s the final red flag: one independent CBD testing organization did its own evaluation of Diamond’s CBD oil and found that it contained 21% more cannabidiol than the label claimed. Some might look at that extra CBD as a “bonus,” but it does give us another reason to hesitate before enthusiastically recommending Diamond CBD products.

Diamond CBD Oils

Not only are there eight pages of CBD oils listed on Diamond’s website (with 24 products per page), but they include products from sister brands Meds Biotech, Chill, Relax Blue CBD, and Daily Boost in addition to Diamond CBD branded oil.

That makes it impossible to provide a comprehensive rundown of the entire line of CBD oils available from this company. Here’s a brief look.

Diamond CBD’s unflavored oil is a full-spectrum product available in potencies from 1.67mg/ml all the way up to 116.67mg/ml, with many strength options in between. The carriers are vegetable glycerin and propylene glycol – not the best choices for CBD oil, but the right ones for CBD vape juice (which the product information says is an acceptable use). That leads us to suspect that this formulation really does double-duty, and is simply labeled for use as a consumable oil rather than as a vape juice.

There similar potencies available in flavored versions of Diamond’s CBD oil like apple, strawberry, watermelon, blueberry, peppermint, raspberry, and many more; all use artificial flavorings. Diamond also sells various products like CBD-infused honey oils, oils infused with terpenes that contribute the flavors (but not the THC levels) of various cannabis brands, and branded oils endorsed by and named after celebrities like Tommy Chong and former NFL great Lawrence Taylor.

The full-spectrum options from sister brand Relax all have the exact same ingredients and potency options as the Diamond CBD products, and we can’t tell any real difference between them. Are they really the same products with different labels? No way to know.

Other inter-company choices include Meds Biotech full-spectrum oil (which uses MCT coconut oil as a carrier, a better choice), Blue CBD isolate oil (made from CBD isolate with no entourage effect), and Daily Boost CBD droppers containing a day or two’s worth of full-spectrum CBD with added terpenes.

It’s a lot, but then again, it doesn’t seem to be a lot when you really dig into it. In reality, it looks like the same basic oil packaged in lots of different ways.

Diamond CBD Capsules

The company’s CBD capsules are all sold under the Meds Biotech label. There are two dosage levels with 10mg and 25mg of cannabidiol per capsule. All but one option contains CBD isolate (the other is full-spectrum) along with different additives like melatonin for sleep, turmeric for antioxidant and anti-inflammatory purposes, and collagen for skin and bone health. The capsules are not vegan, as they’re made with bovine gelatin.

Diamond CBD Edibles

We thought the CBD oil options were confusing until we got to edibles. There are 12 pages of edibles sold by Diamond CBD, although most are branded by sister companies Relax and Chill. The majority are different shapes and flavors of gummies, some infused with full-spectrum CBD isolate and others with CBD isolate; there doesn’t seem to be any rhyme or reason to which are which. Potencies are generally between 3.5 and 5mg per gummy, although some are much higher. All of their dosages are approximate numbers, unusual for edibles.

Diamond also sells drinkable shots in various flavors, CBD isolates mixed with “superfoods” to be used in drinks or shakes, and pure isolate powder sold by the gram.

Diamond CBD Vape (and Related) Products

There are “only” 13 vape juice products sold by Diamond CBD, most under the Liquid Gold brand but some branded as Relax or Chill. They come in a variety of flavors and strengths and apparently contain CBD isolate (the company doesn’t specify). They also contain vegetable glycerin (no propylene glycol, surprisingly) and artificial flavors.

Additionally, the company sells several CBD “vape additives” under different brand names. They’re intended to be mixed with vape juice purchased elsewhere, to add CBD to a customer’s normal vaping product.

Not many producers offer CBD herb for smoking, but Diamond CBD sells a good variety of hemp flowers and pre-rolls. Most contain terpenes which contribute to well-known cannabis flavors like Space Candy and Sour Diesel. The cannabidiol is full-spectrum, with only the legal amount of THC (< 0.3%).

Diamond CBD Topicals

Diamond has a large assortment of CBD-infused topicals in its lineup, most of them marketed under the CBD Oil Biotech brand (we told you it was confusing!). There are CBD creams, muscle and joint gels and roll-ons, pain relief creams, hand and body lotions, and lip and eye creams, as well as bath bombs and bath salts. Most contain a number of other standards, natural skincare ingredients as well as cannabidiol. You have to check each product to determine whether it contains full-spectrum CBD or CBD isolate.

Diamond CBD: Other Products

There are two other Diamond product categories that deserve a brief mention. They sell a range of CBD oils and CBD pet treats under the MediPets brand, apparently containing full-strength cannabidiol and available in different potencies for different sizes of dogs and cats. They’re all pretty strong, so be careful and administer by the drop if you have a small pet.

Diamond CBD also sells an assortment of products containing the controversial Delta-8-THC, a cannabinoid that’s similar to THC, but legal – at least so far. A good number of users report experiencing some psychoactive effects (without the most potent effects of pot) when using Delta-8, and there are early indications that it may have some medical benefits as well. In any event, it’s definitely gaining popularity among the “cool kids.”

Under the Chill brand, Diamond offers Delta-8 CBD oil, vape oil and cartridges, and a large assortment of gummies.

Diamond CBD: The Verdict

The enormous range of products available from Diamond CBD can make a shopper dizzy, excited, and ready to buy.

We wouldn’t completely warn against that. Diamond uses high-quality organic hemp and cannabidiol extraction methods, it makes its third-party testing results (COAs) available online so you can check cannabinoid levels and possible contaminants, and there are some options you simply can’t find from most other producers.

The company’s history, unfortunately, is what it is. Diamond CBD may have taken care of the issues it had a few years ago, but we’re uncomfortable with the facts that they use some less-than-optimal ingredients, promote their products as “all-natural” when some clearly aren’t, and fail to identify whether some of them are full-spectrum or CBD isolate – an important difference.

These products aren’t bad at all. But given a choice, we’d probably shop somewhere else.