Slow and steady wins the race – a Q&A with the CBD Sloth

Tom Bourlet – aka the CBD Sloth – tells Cannabis Health how his award-winning blog became the go-to place for those wanting to know more about CBD.

Tom Bourlet has only been using CBD for 18 months, but his blog the CBD Sloth is renowned for helping people find the right product for them.

It won the Media of the Year award at the Cannabiz Summit in Malta just six months after it launched in early 2019 and Tom was invited to be a judge in the CBD category at the Men’s Health awards.

Here he reveals how much the industry has changed in such a short space of time – and what he’s learned so far along the way.

Tell us a bit about you, what’s your background – and do you have a ‘day-job’?

As well as CBD Sloth, I have worked in marketing for a decade now and outside of the CBD world, I’ve been writing my travel blog www.spaghettitraveller.com for seven years.

How did you discover CBD?

I was doing some freelance work with a beauty brand that was considering launching some products that would contain CBD. I didn’t know much about it at the time so I began researching.

I became transfixed with the potential of cannabis and how it was being used to help people with various ailments. But I was also frustrated by the limited levels of regulations in place and felt nervous to try CBD oil, with negative stories coming from brands that didn’t have high standards. I even found a few CBD brands that refused to provide their lab reports – which would hint that they might have lower levels of the cannabinoids they’re stating, they could have pesticides present in the oil or they might not even have a lab report to show.

Why did you set up the blog?

I wanted to provide a place where people could quickly check whether the brand provided lab results and what the certificate of analysis showed, a place where the brands were held accountable and where I could offer real, genuine advice without an ulterior motive.

I still think there needs to be a greater level of transparency from brands. Every time I talk with a brand I’m reviewing, I try to offer advice if I don’t feel their website is offering everything the customer needs to know.

Did you feel people should have somewhere reliable to turn to for advice?

CBD products cost such a large amount of money and people are putting their trust in these brands. When I review products or where I list the best CBD brands, I’m not basing my opinion on anything commercial, I’m basing it on how well it worked for me and whether I feel they’re providing the best quality product at the right price.

I have found that paying a higher price doesn’t necessarily mean a higher quality of product. Some brands overprice their products and call them ‘premium’ without any real differentiation.

How has CBD helped you?

Before CBD, it used to take me around 40 minutes to fall asleep at night. I’m not going to say I fall asleep the moment my head hits the pillow, but it now takes around three to five minutes. CBD isn’t sleep medication, it doesn’t make you tired or drowsy, but it completely alleviates any stress or anxiety in my mind, which allows me to drift off without a million thoughts going through my head.

Are you surprised by how much the blog has taken off?

Surprised would be an understatement! It is becoming increasingly clear that there are a huge amount of people asking questions around CBD and predominantly landing on brand pages, which are trying to sell to you, so I loved offering an unbiased viewpoint and sharing my experiences with others.

It has been an amazing journey and I’m keen to see where it takes me in the years to come – the website traffic has doubled in the last three months alone.

What have you learned since you started out?

There is a real community feeling within the CBD industry. CBD brands are not all started by entrepreneurs trying to make a quick buck, but are often set-up by people trying to find a solution to a health issue they or someone close to them has.

I’ve also learned that brands will mix CBD into anything. I’ve tried CBD coffee, tea, gin, rum, honey, brownies, flapjacks, chai latte and chocolates. I’m not sure what’s next but I’m always guaranteed an occasional surprise.

I’ve recently begun learning more about the other cannabinoids present in cannabis, of which they all have their own set of benefits and potential uses as treatments, but we need a lot more test studies into them in order to fully understand their potential. CBG is probably the fastest-growing behind CBD – I can see CBG oil being a huge seller in a number of years.

Find Tom’s blog at https://www.cbdsloth.com/