What is CBN? The short answer

CBN stands for cannabinol. It’s one of the many naturally occurring compounds — called cannabinoids — found in the hemp plant. What makes CBN interesting is where it comes from: it’s formed over time as THC ages and is exposed to oxygen and light. In other words, CBN is largely a product of the plant maturing, which is why fresh hemp contains only trace amounts of it.

Is CBN the same as CBD or THC?

No — they’re three distinct cannabinoids:

• CBD (cannabidiol) is the most common cannabinoid in hemp products and is non-intoxicating.
• THC (tetrahydrocannabinol) is the compound known for the “high” associated with marijuana. Legal hemp products contain no more than 0.3% THC by dry weight.
• CBN (cannabinol) is non-intoxicating in the amounts used in hemp products, and is typically present in small quantities.

Want the fuller picture on how these compounds relate? Our Cannabis Education page is a good next stop, and you can compare CBN with CBG (cannabigerol) in our companion guide.

What kinds of CBN products are there?

Because CBN is often associated with evening and nighttime product lines, you’ll usually see it formulated for an end-of-day routine — and frequently blended with other familiar ingredients like melatonin. Common formats include:

• CBN gummies — for example, our CBN Sleep Gummies and Sleep Gummies with CBN + Melatonin.
• CBN tinctures — such as our 1200mg CBN Tincture and CBD/CBN blends.
• CBD + CBN combinations, where the two cannabinoids are paired together in one formula.

You can browse the full range on our edibles and tinctures pages.

How do I know what’s actually in a CBN product?

Read the label and check the lab report. Every product line we carry is backed by third-party testing, so you can confirm the cannabinoid content and verify the THC stays within the legal limit. See our lab results page for details.

Have questions about CBN?

The easiest way to learn more is to ask a human. Call or text us at (720) 999-3989, or stop by CBD on Broadway at 5809 S. Broadway, Ste C, Littleton, CO — we’re happy to walk you through the options. Not local? Shop online and we’ll ship to you.

This article is for general educational purposes only. It has not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration, and it is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease or health condition. Consult a qualified healthcare provider before using any hemp or CBD product, especially if you are pregnant, nursing, or taking medication.

What is CBG? The short answer

CBG stands for cannabigerol. Like CBD, it’s a naturally occurring, non-intoxicating cannabinoid found in the hemp plant. It earns the nickname the “mother cannabinoid” because of its role in the plant’s chemistry: CBG starts out as CBGA (cannabigerolic acid), the compound the hemp plant uses as a building block to produce other cannabinoids — including CBD and THC — as it grows. Because so much of it converts into other cannabinoids during growth, mature hemp usually contains only small amounts of CBG, which is part of why it’s prized.

Is CBG the same as CBD?

No — they’re separate cannabinoids, though they share some traits:

• Both are non-intoxicating — CBG won’t produce a “high.”
• CBD is the most abundant cannabinoid in most hemp products.
• CBG is typically present in much smaller amounts, so CBG-forward products are often made from hemp harvested early or bred for higher CBG content.

Curious how CBG stacks up against other cannabinoids? Compare it with CBN (cannabinol) in our companion guide, or brush up on the basics on our Cannabis Education page.

What kinds of CBG products are there?

CBG shows up across our daytime “Mood Balance” and blended product lines. Common formats include:

• CBG tinctures — such as our CBG Mood Balance Tincture and THC-free CBG oils.
• CBG gummies — like our CBG Mood Balance Gummies.
• CBD + CBG blends and capsules — including softgels that combine CBG with ingredients like ashwagandha, such as our CBD/CBG capsules.

Browse the full selection on our tinctures, edibles, and softgels pages.

How do I know what’s actually in a CBG product?

Check the label and the lab report. Because CBG products vary a lot in how they’re formulated, third-party testing is the best way to confirm exactly what’s inside and that the THC stays within the legal 0.3% limit. See our lab results page.

Have questions about CBG?

Ask a real person. Call or text (720) 999-3989, or visit CBD on Broadway at 5809 S. Broadway, Ste C, Littleton, CO — we’ll help you compare your options. Not local? Shop online and we’ll ship to you.

This article is for general educational purposes only. It has not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration, and it is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease or health condition. Consult a qualified healthcare provider before using any hemp or CBD product, especially if you are pregnant, nursing, or taking medication.

The good news is that it isn’t complicated. “Spectrum” is just shorthand for how much of the original hemp plant made it into the bottle. Full spectrum keeps everything. Broad spectrum keeps almost everything. Isolate keeps one thing. Here’s what that actually means for what you take home.

Full-spectrum CBD: the complete plant profile

A full-spectrum extract contains the complete range of compounds found in the original hemp plant. On a lab report, that looks like four things:

• High-potency CBD — the compound the product is built and dosed around.
• Trace cannabinoids — smaller amounts of the other cannabinoids the plant makes alongside CBD, most commonly CBG and CBN.
• Natural terpenes and flavonoids — the aromatic plant compounds responsible for how hemp smells and tastes, and, many people believe, for how a given extract behaves.
• Trace THC — present, but held within the 0.3% federal legal limit for hemp.

That last line is where people tense up, so let’s be plain about it. Trace THC at or below 0.3% by dry weight is what the plant naturally carries, kept inside the ceiling the law sets for hemp. It isn’t a dose designed to intoxicate anyone, and the great majority of customers who use full-spectrum products daily describe no intoxicating effect at all. But “trace” is not “none,” and for some people that distinction genuinely matters. We’ll come back to it.

Full spectrum is the right pick for someone who wants the maximum plant potential the hemp had to offer, and who is comfortable with trace THC being part of the package.

The entourage effect, in plain English

The reason anyone bothers keeping all those extra compounds in the bottle is an idea called the entourage effect: the observation that cannabinoids, terpenes and flavonoids appear to work better together than any single compound does on its own.

Think of it less like a solo and more like a band. CBD is the lead, but the minor cannabinoids and the terpenes are the rhythm section — easy to overlook one at a time, and collectively responsible for how the whole thing lands. Researchers have been interested in this synergy for years, and while the science is still developing and we’re careful not to overstate it, it’s the entire reasoning behind whole-plant extracts. It’s also what a lot of our long-time customers describe in their own words: full spectrum simply feels rounder to them.

We’d rather tell you that honestly than dress it up. Some people notice a clear difference between spectrums. Some people notice none at all. Both are completely normal, and neither means you bought the wrong thing.

Broad-spectrum CBD: the synergy, minus the THC

Broad spectrum begins its life as a full-spectrum extract. Same plant, same starting material. Then it goes one step further: an additional, specialized molecular extraction process that removes the THC completely, while leaving the other cannabinoids, terpenes and flavonoids in place.

That extra step is the whole product. You keep the supporting cast — CBG, CBN, terpenes, flavonoids — and you take out the one compound that creates complications. What you give up is whatever contribution the trace THC was making to the overall profile, which is honestly still an open question, and for most people a small trade.

Broad spectrum is the right pick for someone who wants compound synergy without THC risk. In practice, that’s two groups of people: those subject to employment screening or other testing, and those who simply prefer, for their own reasons, that THC not be in the bottle. Neither reason needs justifying at our counter.

Where isolate fits in

There’s a third option worth knowing about, even though it isn’t really part of the main decision. CBD isolate is CBD refined until nothing else is left — typically a crystalline powder that’s 99% or more pure CBD, with no THC, no terpenes, no minor cannabinoids and essentially no hemp flavor.

Isolate makes sense when you want CBD and only CBD: total certainty about what’s in the bottle, a clean taste, and the simplest possible label. What you trade away is any possibility of the entourage effect, because there’s no entourage left to speak of. It’s the most predictable option on a shelf, and the least complex.

Full, broad and isolate, side by side

Two questions that settle it

When someone is stuck at the counter, we narrow the whole thing down to two questions.

1. Do you want trace THC in your product for maximum synergy? If yes — full spectrum.
2. Do you need complete THC-free assurance? If yes — broad spectrum.

That’s genuinely it. Everything else — flavor, milligram strength, tincture versus gummy versus topical — is a preference you can adjust on your next visit. Spectrum is the one decision worth getting right the first time.

A practical note on that second question. If you’re screened at work, or you’re in a role where testing is a possibility, we’d point you toward broad spectrum or isolate and encourage you to read the Certificate of Analysis yourself before you buy. No product and no lab report can promise you an outcome on a test, and we won’t pretend otherwise — but a THC-free product with independent lab work behind it is the most conservative choice on our shelf. If you’re not being tested and you’re curious about the whole plant, full spectrum is where we’d start you.

Whichever way you go, read the COA. Every product we carry is third-party lab tested and has one available, and we’ll pull it up on the screen for you without being asked. It’s the difference between a label making a claim and a laboratory confirming it. You can also browse our lab results page before you come in.

Come see us in Littleton

This is a decision that takes about two minutes in person and twenty minutes on the internet. If you’re anywhere near South Denver, come to the corner of W. Ida Ave and S. Broadway and let us put both spectrums in front of you — you can smell the difference between a full-spectrum and a broad-spectrum tincture before you ever spend a dollar. We stock cbdMD, Wyld and Metta Hemp across both spectrums, so there’s no version of this question we can’t answer off the shelf.

We’re at 5809 S. Broadway, Ste C, Littleton, CO 80121, open Monday to Saturday, 10am to 6pm, and Sunday 11am to 5pm. Call us on (720) 999-3989 if you’d rather talk it through first, or start browsing our tinctures and the full shop. You must be 21 or older to purchase.