The Trill Story
Trill was started by, David Threlfall, owner of Trill Alternatives Dispensary. While his mom was battling cancer, he researched the healing opportunities of cannabis. Sadly, his mom passed and was not able to benefit from his research, he continued to learn about cannabis and decided to open up a dispensary. David wanted to create a place to provide education around the safe use of cannabis.
While running the dispensary, David came across a unique lipid-based extraction method that removes contaminants from the cannabis. What he liked about the method was that it did not use any solvent or pressure to extract the plant compounds.
Even if a plant is grown organically, the soil or runoff may contain naturally occurring or man-made contaminants. Since cannabis has a natural ability to uptake these contaminants he was thrilled to find an extraction process that also purified the end product.
Trill’s hemp based products became available outside the dispensary setting with passage of the 2014 Farm Bill.
How the Hemp is Grown
Trill contracts with farmers to grow their own particular strains of hemp, similar to farmers who are given the seeds to grow the chilies for Tabasco. This is important not only to maintain a consistent product, but also to know where and how the hemp is grown.
Although the hemp Trill uses is not officially certified organic at this time, it is grown in the same manner without the use of pesticides or herbicides. Even with organic farms, there could be a source of outside contamination. Outside sources might come from a neighboring farm that is sprayed up wind or the source of water is contaminated from a golf course or farm.
This is where their patented process of purifying the cannabis comes in handy. While Trill trusts their farmers to grow the hemp responsibly, they can not control outside sources of contamination. With their patented process to clean the cannabis, they provide an end product free of contaminants.
How the Hemp is Processed
Trill uses a unique patented process (U.S. Pat. No. 9,259,449 B2) that extracts cannabinoids and other plant compounds without the use of solvents; it also “cleans” the hemp of contaminants. While the extraction process can be a bit complicated to explain, Trill likes to use the comparison with making chicken soup to explain it.
Picture chicken soup after its been boiled and left to cool in a refrigerator. The fat from the chicken separates from the boiled water and floats to the top. Similarly, Trill boils hemp in water, but unlike chicken, hemp does not contain fat so they add organic cold pressed coconut oil. Once left to cool, the compounds made by the plant like cannabinoids, which are fat-soluble combine with the coconut oil. Contaminants like heavy metals that are taken up through the root system stay contained in the water.
The water-soluble elements are disregarded and the fat-soluble compounds go on to be tested to make the finished product.
Product Formulation
Trill never uses any preservatives, fillers, additives, or artificial ingredients. Their ingredient list it is very simple using only pesticide-free hemp, organic cold-pressed coconut oil and filtered Rocky Mountain spring water. They use plant-based cellulite capsules to make their Trill Pills gluten-free and 100% vegan.
Trill, known for their capsules, also manufactures tinctures and topicals. The pills and tinctures is available three convenient strengths per serving: 10, 25 and 50 mg per pill or dropperful.
3rd Party Testing
Trill conducts 3rd party testing to provide transparent verification. Although they are confident in their patented extraction process and products, they want to verify it for purity and potency.
Trill products are tested four times!
The first test is conducted by the hemp farmer and submitted to the State of Colorado verifying its potency in order to be labeled industrial hemp.
Once the hemp is extracted, through their patented process, the coconut oil packed with full spectrum of cannabinoids and other plant compounds is tested to determine potency and purity. This information is used to determine the potency of the batch to calculate the strength of the final product and purity of the batch to determine its cleansing of contaminants.
Finally, Trill conducts not one but two tests on the final product, whether it is a tincture, capsule or topical to ensure each product contains the strength as labeled.
Most Certificate of Analysis (CoA) list heavy metals and other contaminants with a either a pass or fail grade. However, even with a passing grade a product can still contain a small amount of heavy metals since small amounts are acceptable. Unlike most manufacturers, Trill, through its patented extraction process is confident that the hemp has been purified of such contaminants.