The Price-Per-Milligram Playbook: Black Friday CBD Shopping Without the Hype

Black Friday 2026 lands on 27 November, but the 'deals' are already leaking out of the woodwork. In the CBD aisle, that means a lot of bold red banners, a lot of 'was' prices, and a fair amount of nonsense. The good news: there are genuine savings to be had. The bad news: the loudest discount is often the least useful bottle.

Here's the Lion CBD deal audit — the sums, the red flags and the bottles worth putting in your basket.

Step one: ignore the 'was' price

A discount is only a discount if the original price was real. Plenty of CBD brands launch with a permanently 'reduced' RRP, then slap a Black Friday badge on top. If a bottle was £45 in September, £45 in October and is 'was £90, now £45' in November, you haven't saved £45. You've been marketed at.

Check the price on the retailer's own site before the sale. Look at the unit price, not the percentage. If you can, compare the same strength and size across two or three UK retailers. A genuine Black Friday deal usually beats the normal street price, not just a fantasy RRP.

Step two: do the price-per-milligram sum

This is the only maths that matters. Divide the price by the total CBD in the bottle.

Example: a 10ml bottle with 1,000mg of CBD at £36 is 3.6p per mg. A 10ml bottle with 500mg at £30 is 6p per mg. On price alone, the first is the better buy. But check the format and the label — a cheap bottle with no COA isn't a bargain, it's a gamble.

Be careful with confusing strengths. '1,000mg' might mean the whole bottle or per millilitre. A 30ml bottle with 1,000mg total is about 33mg per ml. A 10ml bottle with 1,000mg total is 100mg per ml. Both can be legitimate; they're just different products. Know your daily dose before you compare.

Red flag one: near-date stock

CBD oil has a shelf life, and Black Friday is a classic time to shift short-dated batches. Check the expiry date before you buy, especially on bundles. A 10ml bottle lasts a while at one dose a day, but a three-bottle bundle with six weeks left is not a favour. If the listing doesn't show the batch or expiry, ask. A good retailer will tell you.

Red flag two: 'full-spectrum' with no numbers

Full-spectrum is a real term with real meaning: it usually means the product contains a range of cannabinoids, including THC at trace levels. That's fine for some people and not for others. What isn't fine is a bottle that says 'full-spectrum' and gives you no total CBD, no THC figure and no batch COA. That's not a spectrum; it's a vibe.

If you want to avoid THC, look for broad-spectrum or isolate and check the COA. If you want full-spectrum, buy from a brand that states the THC result. 'Suspiciously vague' is a red flag, not a personality trait.

Red flag three: mystery milligrams

'High strength' means nothing without a number. 'Extra strength' means even less. Look for total CBD in mg and the serving size. If the label says 500mg and the bottle is 30ml, that's about 16.7mg per ml. If it says 500mg and the bottle is 10ml, that's 50mg per ml. Same number, very different bottle.

Red flag four: the bundle you'll never finish

Black Friday loves a bundle. Three oils, a balm and a mystery gift for £99 can look like a steal until you realise you've bought a year's supply of a product you've never tried. If you're new to CBD, buy one small bottle at a genuine discount. If you already have a daily product you trust, a multi-buy of that exact product can be worth it — but only if the expiry date works and the price per mg beats the single bottle.

What a genuinely good CBD deal looks like

A straightforward bottle, in our book, has four things: a clear total CBD figure, a batch-specific COA, a sensible expiry date and a price that beats the normal retail price per mg. Nice extras like a dropper, a dark glass bottle and a simple carrier oil are good. A flashy box is not a reason to pay more.

Here are the three profiles we'd look for in the Black Friday 2026 sales:

The daily driver. A 10ml broad-spectrum or isolate bottle in the 500–1,000mg range, with a COA and a price per mg that undercuts the usual. This is the bottle you'll actually use. Don't be swayed by a 30ml 'value' size if you've never tried the product.

The evening full-spectrum. If you already know full-spectrum suits you, look for a 10ml bottle with a stated THC result and a batch COA. Buy one, not five, unless the expiry date is generous and the per-mg price is genuinely lower.

The small-bottle trial. A 250–300mg bottle at a real discount is a sensible way to test a new brand. It's not the cheapest per mg, but it's cheaper than buying a giant bottle you end up binning.

The basket test

Before you hit checkout, ask four questions. What's the price per mg? When does it expire? Is there a batch COA? Would I buy this at full price? If the answer to the last one is no, a 30% discount probably isn't enough.

Black Friday 2026 is on 27 November, and the deals will run before and after. Take your time. A straightforward bottle with a clear label is worth more than a circus of 'was' prices. And if a deal looks too good to be true, it usually is — especially when the label is vague.