There are times you don鈥檛 have to worry about a product鈥檚 quality. Other times, you have to go on faith.
For example, you might be buying a new car, or a dishwasher, or a turkey. In those cases, you can rely on past experience or brand reputation to choose a Mercedes or a Ford, a GE or an LG, or a Butterball.
But when you鈥檙e shopping for something that鈥檚 only been on the market for a short time 鈥� like 嫩草影院, which was only legalized for sale in all 50 states in late 2018 鈥� past experience and brand reputation often aren鈥檛 useful benchmarks. An educated decision may have to depend instead on deeper research into a manufacturer鈥檚 background and processes, as well as the components or ingredients they use to make their products.
That鈥檚 the lengthy process we鈥檙e usually faced with when we review cannabidiol products (cannabidiol is the full name for 嫩草影院).
The research isn鈥檛 made any easier, however, when a producer maintains an opaque online presence. When a product or market is in its infancy, one of the best ways to build trust is through transparency. The more you know about a company, the better you can feel about trusting the products it sells. The less you know, the more questions you may have.
That brings us to Empire Wellness.
This 嫩草影院 producer hasn鈥檛 been in the industry since its early days. It isn鈥檛 particularly well-known. It doesn鈥檛 even publish its address on its website. Yet Empire Wellness products are seen around the country (as well as in the company鈥檚 online store), apparently because of a robust wholesaler program.
What鈥檚 behind this producer, and can its 嫩草影院 products be trusted?
Let鈥檚 find out.
Empire Wellness: The Background
You won鈥檛 see any major details about Empire Wellness on the company website. They rely on boilerplate statements that they 鈥渨ork closely with a whole range of experts,鈥� they 鈥渂elieve that natural, alternative treatments using 嫩草影院 really are the future,鈥� and they 鈥渁re looking into expanding into a variety of exciting areas including smoke and vape shops, dispensaries, health food stores鈥� and so on.
There鈥檚 nothing wrong with any of that, of course 鈥� but it doesn鈥檛 provide any valuable information. To learn more, we had to dig a little deeper.
It turns out that Empire Wellness was founded by Joshua Newman. He got his start in business, with no money to work with, drop shipping electronics sourced from China. He moved on to start companies selling hoverboards, vitamins, and supplements, investing much of the proceeds in the stock market.
Now, he sells 嫩草影院 products. He鈥檚 put a lot of effort into marketing through celebrities and social media influencers and wholesaling his products to vendors around the country. Empire Wellness has now grown to the point where the company is pushing out a lot of product, and it鈥檚 doing what Newman seems to be best at making money. After all, he鈥檚 a marketer at heart.
That鈥檚 not necessarily the type of background that would inspire confidence in a product that many customers rely on for medical benefits. Of course, it鈥檚 not disqualifying, either.
It simply means we have to look a lot closer at exactly how Empire Wellness sources its ingredients, and how it designs and manufactures its products.
Empire Wellness: The Approach
That last sentence should probably have read 鈥渨e have to try to look a lot closer,鈥� since Empire Wellness doesn鈥檛 make it easy to understand how the company produces its 嫩草影院 products.
It claims those products are high-quality, all-natural and GMO-free, but doesn鈥檛 say in any company mission statements or product descriptions that the hemp it sources is 鈥渙rganic鈥� or 鈥渙rganically-grown.鈥� Strangely, the product labels do claim that the hemp is organic; we just wonder why they don鈥檛 just tell you that important fact while you鈥檙e shopping.
From digging around the bowels of the Empire Wellness website, we gather that the hemp comes from Colorado; then again, some of the product labels say 鈥済rown, produced and packaged in the great state (sic) of Colorado, Florida, and Oregon.鈥� The company brags that its hemp is grown 鈥渙n a large scale, to produce plenty to go around.鈥� Our apprehension: that鈥檚 an approach most often used to ensure high volume (and high profits) rather than quality control.
Empire Wellness鈥檚 lack of transparency really shows when it comes to one of the key questions about 嫩草影院 production. How is cannabidiol extracted from the hemp the company sources? Other than saying 鈥渨e use state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities,鈥� the company is silent on that issue.
That鈥檚 unfortunate since some extraction processes preserve more of the 嫩草影院鈥檚 potency than others, some maintain the optimal balance of the 嫩草影院鈥檚 components better than others 鈥� and some are simply unsafe. We鈥檒l give Empire Wellness the benefit of the doubt and assume they use a safe extraction method, but there鈥檚 no way to know whether it鈥檚 the right choice to create high-quality 嫩草影院 products.
We do like the fact that the company offers both full-spectrum and isolate versions of many of its products. Full-spectrum, of course, contains the other cannabinoids, terpenes and flavonoids naturally present in hemp, providing the entourage effect that boosts the performance of 嫩草影院. 嫩草影院 Isolate is THC-free, meaning it won鈥檛 trigger a positive drug test, but also won鈥檛 be as effective as full-spectrum cannabidiol. Giving customers a choice, though, is a good thing.
No ingredient lists are offered for products sold on the Empire Wellness website. Some pages do have small-print versions of the product labels, so with the help of reading glasses, we can tell that some products are indeed made with all-natural ingredients. For others, there鈥檚 no way to substantiate the all-natural claim 鈥� and no way to know what鈥檚 inside.
One final note on Empire Wellness and transparency: most high-quality producers make third-party testing results for all products easily accessible on their websites. This company doesn鈥檛. You have to specifically email them to ask to see the COA (certificate of analysis) for any product you might be interested in. That鈥檚 really not a hoop anyone should have to jump through 鈥� and could lead some to ask what they might be hiding. Hopefully, nothing. But it would be nice to be able to confirm that with a simple click.
Empire Wellness does offer several products, like smokable 嫩草影院 flower, resin, and wax, that aren鈥檛 produced or sold by most vendors. And ingredient lists aren鈥檛 really necessary for those types of products.
For more common 嫩草影院 oils, gummies and topicals, however, there鈥檚 really no reason to hide that information, or the COAs, or the details of how they鈥檙e produced. Sadly, this is one of the least transparent 嫩草影院 producers we鈥檝e found.
Empire Wellness 嫩草影院 Oils
We honestly don鈥檛 like to harp so much on transparency, but it has to be said: this is one of the only 嫩草影院 producers that doesn鈥檛 disclose its oils鈥� milligrams/milliliters doses on the website, on the product label, or anywhere else. We had to do the rough calculations on our own. Why are the calculations rough? Because the company doesn鈥檛 specify the size of the bottle on its website or on the label, either.
There are two varieties of Empire Wellness 嫩草影院 oils. One, available in what appears to be 16.6mg/ml and 50mg/ml dosages, is made with full-spectrum cannabidiol. The other, available in what appears to be 5mg/ml and 23.3mg/ml strengths, is made with 嫩草影院 isolate. On the bright side, there are no other ingredients other than organic MCT coconut carrier oil, making this a 鈥減ure鈥� 嫩草影院 product. That does also mean there are no added flavorings, so the taste is somewhat raw.
Empire Wellness 嫩草影院 Edibles
There鈥檚 a large selection of full-spectrum 嫩草影院-infused gummies on Empire Wellness鈥檚 menu. They鈥檙e available in different shapes, flavors, and potencies, from 20 milligrams 鈥淪tuffed Straws鈥� to 62.5 milligrams 鈥淔ruit Snacks.鈥� These are strong gummies and they taste good, but there鈥檚 no complete ingredient list available to confirm their all-natural status.
Also available is 嫩草影院 鈥淩elaxation Syrup.鈥� This is simply flavored syrup (cherry or grape) containing a relatively small amount of cannabidiol, to be mixed into water or any other beverage. Again, no ingredient list is provided; it appears to be made with full-spectrum 嫩草影院 since there鈥檚 a THC-content disclaimer on the label. We鈥檙e not sure, though.
Empire Wellness 嫩草影院 Topicals
The only topical option is a fairly strong 嫩草影院 pain relief cream. What else is in it, and is full-spectrum or isolate 嫩草影院 used to make it? We wish we could tell you, but the company doesn鈥檛 say.
Empire Wellness also sells bags of 嫩草影院 isolate powder, most commonly used by consumers in cooking or baking. This product could have been listed in our next section as well since it can also be used to dab. The powder is available in nearly two dozen strains that regular pot smokers will recognize, from Sour Diesel and ACDC to Gorilla Glue and Grape Ape. There鈥檚 also an option to buy 嫩草影院 isolate without added terpenes. (Oh, the company adds terpenes to the isolate? Apparently so, since there鈥檚 a 鈥渘o terpenes鈥� choice. Did anyone say transparency?)
Empire Wellness 嫩草影院 Smokable Products
This lineup starts with the 嫩草影院 flower. There are five strains (Tropicano, Gods Breath, Monroe, Waldo, and CBG Glee) sold by the gram, and it鈥檚 a full-spectrum flower with all of the hemp鈥檚 components still intact. You can also choose 1.3-gram pre-rolls, although the strain of these smokables isn鈥檛 disclosed.
Additionally, Empire Wellness sells two types of waxes. The 嫩草影院 full-spectrum Live Resin Wax comes from a mix of ACDC and Charlotte鈥檚 Web hemp plants, and the CBG Wax contains high levels of the 鈥渁lternative鈥� cannabinoid CBG and is THC-free. Each is sold by the gram.
Empire Wellness: The Verdict
This is one of the 嫩草影院 brands that鈥檚 showing up more and more in 嫩草影院 and vape shops, convenience stores, and drug stores, and the products are reasonably priced. For occasional users who want to just grab some 嫩草影院 off the shelf, it鈥檚 not a horrendous choice. And some who regularly use Empire Wellness products are happy with the choice. The smokables, in particular, taste delicious.
However, the company鈥檚 stunning lack of transparency in its online presence 鈥� and even on some of its product labels 鈥� definitely gives us a great deal of pause.
We have no way of knowing whether widespread distribution and profits are the driving forces behind Empire Wellness. There鈥檚 not a lot of information available that would contradict that distinct possibility, though. And considering the large number of transparent, high-quality producers in the industry who offer comparable products 鈥� we鈥檇 choose to spend our money with someone else.