Our lab reports are published per batch rather than per product, and this page explains how to read one properly. Our lab reports are published in full rather than summarised, and they are organised by batch rather than by product line. That distinction is the whole point of this page: a certificate for a product tells you about material you did not buy, while a batch panel describes the unit in your hand.
What our lab reports test for
A complete panel covers five things: potency, residual solvents, pesticides, heavy metals and microbials. Potency is the figure most people look at first and the least relevant to whether a product is safe to use.
Residual solvents are the extraction chemicals left behind when a process is rushed. Heavy metals can migrate out of poor quality hardware into the extract over time. Pesticides come from the growing stage and concentrate during extraction, which is why an untested concentrate carries more risk than untested flower.
Microbials cover mould and bacterial contamination, which matters most for material that was stored badly before extraction. Together those four are the safety picture; potency is the marketing number.
Why batch level and not product level
Extraction runs vary. Two batches of the same strain from the same producer can differ, which is precisely why testing is done per batch rather than once per product and reused. A panel that covers a product line is describing an average that may not include what you bought.
Every unit we ship carries a Boutiq Switch batch code that resolves individually through the verification tool to the panel for that batch. That is the connection that makes documentation meaningful rather than decorative.
The check worth doing is that the code on your box appears on the panel you are shown. Some sellers in this category supply a genuine panel for an unrelated batch, and that survives a casual look.
Reading a panel without a chemistry background
Start with the pass and fail column rather than the numbers. Every regulated panel reports results against action limits, and anything within limits is reported as a pass. You do not need to interpret parts per million to read that.
Then check the scope. A panel that only reports potency has not tested for the things that matter, and the absence of the other four categories is the finding. Scope is the single most useful thing a non-specialist can assess.
Finally check the date. A panel should be reasonably contemporary with the batch it describes. A recent panel attached to old stock is a mismatch worth asking about.
What we do when a batch fails
It does not ship. That is the entire policy and there is no version of it where marginal material goes out with a note. A batch that fails on any of the four safety categories is rejected rather than discounted.
This occasionally means a pairing is unavailable for a period, which is a better outcome than the alternative and we would rather explain a gap in stock than a gap in testing.
If you ever receive a unit whose code resolves to a panel showing a failure, that is a serious error on our part and we want to hear about it immediately.
Testing does not make a product risk free
A clean panel tells you what is not in the extract. It does not tell you how much to take, and the most common bad experience in this category comes from pacing rather than contamination.
Effects build rather than arriving instantly, so one modest draw followed by patience is the sensible opening move. Our usage guide covers that properly and the safety guide separates hardware risk from extract risk.
Being straight about the limits of testing is part of taking testing seriously. A page that implies a lab panel makes a product harmless is misrepresenting what a lab panel is.
The hardware side, which panels do not cover
Lab panels test extract. They say nothing about whether the battery board manages charge properly, which is a separate and genuine risk with counterfeit hardware. That check is behavioural rather than documentary and it is covered in our light pattern guide.
A device showing a single solid light in every state, or blinking continuously regardless of what is happening, usually has a generic board without real charge management. Our authenticity guide lists the physical tells alongside it.
So a complete assessment is a resolving batch code plus the physical checks. Either one alone leaves a gap.
Why we publish rather than provide on request
Available on request is a filter, and filters exist to reduce how often a claim is tested. Publishing removes the friction entirely, which is the point: we would rather every buyer checked than have a small number ask.
It also lets you compare us against anybody else selling this category. If a competitor cannot show you a panel for the batch you are buying, that comparison is more informative than anything we could write about ourselves.
We consider this the minimum standard for selling concentrate rather than a premium feature, and we would like it to become unremarkable.
Using these panels if you sell our products
Shops stocking our range can run a customer’s code at the counter and show the panel on screen, which settles an authenticity question in under a minute. Every unit in a wholesale case carries its own code rather than sharing one.
That is a genuine sales moment rather than a compliance chore. Customers who have been burned by counterfeits elsewhere respond strongly to a shop that can demonstrate documentation rather than assert it.
If you want material to train staff on, the guides on this site are written to be readable by somebody new to the category and can be pointed at directly.
Where the samples come from
Panels are produced from material drawn at the point of production rather than from a retail unit bought back later. That is the standard approach and it is worth being explicit about, because it means the panel describes the batch as made.
It also means a panel cannot tell you anything about how a specific device was stored after it left us. Storage affects flavor rather than safety, but it is a genuine limit on what documentation covers.
If you want to understand what storage does and does not change, the lifespan guide on this site covers the mechanism in detail.
Comparing panels between sellers
When you compare us against another supplier, compare scope before numbers. A panel testing five categories is not the same document as one testing potency, even though both get described as lab tested.
Then compare whether the code on the box connects to the panel. That link is the part that is expensive to fake and cheap to check, and it is where most claims in this category quietly fall apart.
Finally compare availability. Published beats available on request, because a filter exists to reduce how often a claim gets tested.
Questions about our testing
What do your lab reports test for?
Potency, residual solvents, pesticides, heavy metals and microbials. Potency is the number most people look at and the least relevant to safety; the other four are the ones that matter. A panel covering only potency is not a safety document.
Why is batch level testing important?
Because extraction runs vary, so two batches of the same strain can differ. A certificate covering a product line describes an average that may not include what you bought, while a batch panel describes the specific unit in your hand.
How do I read a panel if I am not a chemist?
Start with the pass and fail column rather than the numbers, since results are reported against action limits. Then check the scope, because a panel reporting only potency has not tested the things that matter. Finally check the date is contemporary with the batch.
What happens if a batch fails testing?
It does not ship. A batch failing on any safety category is rejected rather than discounted, which occasionally means a pairing is unavailable for a period. We would rather explain a gap in stock than a gap in testing.
Reading a report against the generation you bought
Cannabinoid and terpene figures shift between generations even when the extract is nominally the same, because tank volume and coil temperature change how much of the profile survives to the draw. A V5 report and a V3 report on the same flavour will not read identically, and a seller presenting one certificate as covering an entire product line is telling you they do not test per run.
Match the batch on the device to the batch on the report. If the report names no laboratory, carries no date, or references the product generally rather than a run, treat it as artwork.
Terpenes tell you more than potency
Potency is the figure buyers check first, which is precisely why it is the figure most often inflated on a fake certificate. The terpene breakdown is harder to fabricate convincingly and it is also more useful, because it predicts what the device will actually taste like. Two runs at the same THCa percentage can behave completely differently on the exhale depending on the terpene profile.
If you are comparing flavours across the range, the terpene column is the one worth reading. The flavour guide groups the profiles by what they actually taste like rather than by name.
Why some batches are not listed
Older generations occasionally predate the testing regime we now insist on. Where that is the case we say so on the listing rather than quietly attaching a newer report to older stock. A missing report is a reason to think twice, and it should be stated plainly rather than papered over.
What to do if a batch is not listed
Message us with the code rather than assuming the worst. Occasionally a run is tested but not yet published, and we would rather send you the certificate directly than have you guess.
Reading a certificate properly, not just the headline number
Most people open lab reports, read the potency figure and close the file. The potency figure is the least useful part. Start with the date, because a certificate should correspond to the batch you actually hold. If the document predates the batch code on the device, it is being reused across production runs and proves nothing.
Next, check which panels were run. A complete certificate covers potency, residual solvents, pesticides, heavy metals and microbials. Potency alone is a marketing number rather than a safety document. Residual solvents matter most on extracted products, since they show whether the extraction solvent was fully purged.
Then look at the limit of quantitation, usually shown as LOQ. A result of ND means not detected above that threshold rather than absolute zero, so two certificates can both read ND while testing to very different standards. The threshold column matters as much as the result.
Finally, check that the laboratory names itself, its accreditation body and an analyst. What accreditation means in practice is explained by the National Institute of Standards and Technology. If you cannot identify the laboratory from the document, treat it as unverified, and cross reference the code using the verification page.
Certificates are only half the picture. The other half is whether the seller can connect the certificate to the device in your hand, which is why we publish batch codes rather than a single certificate for the whole range. A shop that shows one certificate and applies it to everything it sells is showing you a document, not a chain of custody.
One more thing worth understanding is sampling. A certificate describes the sample submitted, not every unit in the run, which is why batch size and sampling method appear on a properly written document. A laboratory testing a small sample from a very large run is telling you less than the same laboratory testing several samples from a small one, and neither is dishonest so long as the document says which was done.
Treat lab reports as evidence rather than decoration. The useful lab reports name the laboratory, state the panels run, show the detection thresholds, and carry a batch code you can match to the device you own.