How to choose the right CBD product?

You previously worked in fashion, what inspired you to create a wellness brand?

It all started with CBD itself, the main ingredient. I became interested in it because someone very close to me fell ill and I reached a person who had suffered exactly the same disease – a very severely incurable (in theory). This person said that he had been treated classically with oncology, i.e. chemotherapy and radiotherapy, but an important tip from his doctor, Professor Heller from Switzerland, was to include very strong extracts of CBD and THC in this treatment. He combined all these things together to multiply the possibility of a good prognosis. According to clinical studies on these two types of cancer (skin cancer and brain tumor, grade 4 glioma), the use of CBD and THC in combination with chemotherapy and radiotherapy is not only a matter of pain relief, but also increases the chance of survival in the first five years by several percent. And that's where my interest in this came from.

Then I went to the States, where recreational marijuana had already been legalized in Los Angeles. Many places appeared where in various ways you could have a very interesting experience related to CBD and THC. I had been to the States many times, but never from this angle, just as I had never been very interested in marijuana. I rarely smoked it before, I only used CBD since the aforementioned moment of illness in the family.

As long as marijuana was available in the States only by prescription, places like the one I was in weren't very popular. Only later did they develop strongly: now they are exceptionally refined, have interesting formulations, a very wide range of products. This was a strong inspiration for me. I've been using this product for a long time, my family and friends use it, but in Poland there haven't been so many formulations available yet. I haven't had the chance to make them all yet, but everything is ahead of me.

That's how it came about lightly , from a real initiative. It wasn't some business calculation, but total faith in this product. I had never thought about the wellness industry before, it resulted from the CBD product itself. If you have knowledge about it and can use these products, you can achieve a very measured and precise effect in the case of CBD, also in the case of THC. I knew them before from the point of view of use very thoughtlessly, just like people do. I didn't know what quality it was, what the proportion of CBD to THC in the product is, I didn't know that you can vaporize... And therefore these experiences were not always nice. And when you do it precisely and with a well-chosen dose, it all makes total sense.

You have a dose calculator on the website. What if someone overdid it and took too much?

When it comes to strictly treating yourself with the help of a doctor who is directing treatment with CBD, we're talking about doses of around 300 mg per day. Some users experience side effects like when a supplement or adaptogen is not a good fit, so headaches, dizziness, drowsiness, things like that.

So this suggestion to start with the smallest possible dose is more to increase the efficiency of the product, or...?

It's a bit like our body insuring itself over time. It's worth starting to build tolerance very slowly. If we haven't had contact with this substance before, or we've had a long break, it's worth starting with smaller doses, even very small ones at the very beginning. If we jumped into very high gear right away, our body could build a line of defense. The effectiveness of the substance wouldn't be as strong.

What do you think about adding CBD to gummies or lattes? There are so many CBD products in the States, even lemonade. Does that make sense or is it more of a marketing thing?

Adding CBD to coffee significantly reduces the bioavailability of this product, i.e. its absorption decreases, but does not drop to zero. If we can afford to strengthen our coffee - of course without bringing the product to a high temperature - then I do not see any contraindications, but the greatest bioavailability and absorption occurs when applied directly under the tongue. As for jellies, it is a slightly different matter, because it depends on how the formulation is prepared. The effects of taking CBD and hemp products are released after about two hours, but in the States there are jellies made of nanotechnology, which allows the product to be absorbed after fifteen minutes and we feel its effect immediately.

How to best choose a product for yourself, what should you consider?

In my opinion, we should know what we want from the beginning. When it comes to the form of taking such a product, it can be jelly, oil, dried herb or extract for a vaporizer; everything is related to quality. We have a lot of CBD products on the market, and many companies describe their product as full spectrum , although from laboratory tests it can be concluded that its original concentration is at some level X, and the company supplements this product with CBD isolate to bring this main ingredient to some level. And this is related to the fact that the quality of this product will definitely not be as high. The manufacturer uses a smaller amount of the entire material from which it obtains the extract, but compensates for this by supplementing the product with isolated powder. The laboratory will indeed show that a given ingredient is high [in the composition], but all the rest of the endocannabinoids will not have such a high concentration, which is related to more ineffective action. I would be guided by whether a given product is actually full spectrum, and also perhaps opinions, confirmation of production quality, or whether it meets the Good Manufacturing Practice standard. Of course, it also depends on your preferences as to how you want to take a given product.

How do the oils differ slightly from those elsewhere in Poland?

We do not supplement with external isolate in any way. It is a completely full extract from the plant and we try to use as much material as possible to achieve specific concentrations. In addition, we make functional oils: in addition to pure CBD in three concentrations, we also have oil with melatonin and terpenes, which are also compounds derived from hemp. They give aroma, but also strengthen the entire formula, multiplying its effect. We also have a product with curcumin. In light, in addition to CBD itself, we focus on such functional products.

Can you tell me more about CBD with curcumin? How does it work?

This is our CBD, to which we have added curcumin from a friendly Polish-Japanese company Nomiku. This is nanotechnologically obtained curcumin, therefore it does not need, for example, piperine to increase its bioavailability, because it has the highest potency on the market. We managed to make an extract from this curcumin, which, when combined with CBD, does not settle to the bottom, which is why [the oil] has such a strong yellow color. We added terpenes to all this - we called them Golden Milk - which are slightly citrusy, slightly milky. They are imported from Israel, and they add this interesting aftertaste, but also enhance the whole effect of this substance. This is how the oil was created, which aims to strengthen immunity, increase the body's energy and fight pain, if necessary.

Which product is your favourite?

I think it's the curcumin one. I take it all the time now, morning and night. It doesn't taste like other products, you can't feel the hemp extract itself, and it's a good time to build immunity and take this curcumin every day.

The interview has been condensed and edited for clarity [editor's note].