Cannabis potency is the #1 reason for compliance and regulatory failures in the cannabis and hemp industries. [1,2] Having a way to test cannabis potency is crucial. Not just test it, but test it accurately! Otherwise what’s the point.. right? The traditional industry standard for potency testing is a lab-grade High Performance Liquid Chromatography machine, or HPLC. Unfortunately, the ticket price of an HPLC machine is about $50,000. Not to mention, they’re the size of a refrigerator and require a specialist to run a test. In other words, an HPLC test is far from ideal for the average user who wants to quickly test potency. That's why we decided to pit our small but mighty $299.99 handheld tCheck device against this lab-grade, second-mortgage requiring behemoth to see how well our far more convenient alternative for potency testers would stack up. But first...
Putting accuracy to the test
The rules
tCheck was originally designed to help edible makers measure the potency of their infused oils. The second generation device added the ability to measure the potency of dry herb material and concentrate.
In this test, we compared tCheck’s dry herb measurements against the dry herb measurements of a lab-grade HPLC machine.
The science
This is a legit test, not something we just slapped together over a lazy weekend of CBD infused icing covered bacon. So pardon me while I talk all sciency for a second.
For the purpose of this test, hemp will be defined as any variety of cannabis sativa that is dominant in CBDa while marijuana shall be defined as any variety of cannabis sativa that is dominant in THCa. So first, we created a test sample of each sample by taking 2oz of dry herb of that sample and grinding and mixing it to ensure homogeneity. And then part of each of those samples was sent to an ISO accredited Northern California lab to be tested on their HPLC machine. And part of each of those samples was prepped per tCheck instructions to be tested on several tCheck devices randomly pulled from the production line. Andddddd, drum roll.
The results
The x-axis represents results as reported by the lab while the y-axis represents tCheck’s measured potency. Each dot represents a measurement sample. The thick middle line represents the “perfect” correlation between tCheck’s measurements and the HPLC. The upper dotted green line represents a +3 percentage point variance while the lower dark blue dotted line represents a -3 percentage point variance.
As you can see, for over 90% of the samples tested, tCheck’s measurements were within 3 percentage points of HPLC’s measurements. Which, considering tCheck costs approximately 0.6% of the price of the industry “go-to” for potency testing is pretty freakin’ amazing. So if you want to accurately test the potency of your herb but don’t have a spare empty closet at home and 50Gs burning a hole in your pocket, we think you’ll agree tCheck makes an amazing, reasonably priced (not to mention portable) alternative.
Get to know your bud better with tCheck
At tCheck, we're passionate about cannabis education and de-stigmatization. That’s why we developed the tCheck cannabis potency tester, a quick and easy way for you to get an accurate reading on the THC or CBD content of your infusions—right from the comfort of your kitchen. Just add a drop of butter, oil, or tincture to the slide, insert the slide into the tCheck device, push a few buttons, and Voila! tCheck’s digital screen will tell you exactly how much CBD or THC is in your infusion.
Do you want to know how much cannabis infusion you’ll need to add for exactly 16, five-milligram servings? No problem. tCheck comes with an onboard calculator that will tell you precisely how many teaspoons, tablespoons, or milliliters to add for each portion. It’s that easy! Are you looking to find out the cannabinoid content in your flower or concentrate? We’ve got you covered. With tCheck flower testing expansion kit, you can find out the potency of your homegrown cannabis, hash, or shatter in mere minutes.
If you would like to know more about tCheck’s at-home cannabis test, contact our support team. Our friendly staff will be delighted to assist you.
