“COA, or DOA”: Bonanza Cart Test For Toluene
For some people, a certificate of analysis is a flex. A screenshot passed around to show off how loud the flower tested, Bragging rights in PDF form. For others, a COA is a legal document. In Colorado, that shift from bragging rights to legal shield is about to get very real.
Late December, reporters from The Colorado Springs Gazette and ProPublica reached out to a Colorado license holder with a problem they could document. A 1g Bonanza branded cartridge—purchased legally at a licensed retailer—was independently tested. The lab detected toluene.
Colorado does not permit toluene as an extraction solvent for regulated products. The reporters didn’t speculate—they’ve asked for proof. Full COAs for the finished cartridge and the input oil. Residual solvent panels. Extraction and refinement methods. Supplier identities and licenses. A complete list of solvents, reagents, catalysts, and remediation steps. Internal action limits and corrective procedures.
Toluene and You
At its core, toluene is a simple organic chemical—an aromatic hydrocarbon with the formula C₇H₈. In plain terms, think of it as a ring-shaped molecule (like benzene) with a methyl group attached. It’s a clear, colorless liquid with a strong solvent-like odor that most people associate with paint thinner or industrial solvents. It’s chemically known as methylbenzene or phenylmethane.
Toluene’s claim to fame is solvency—it dissolves lots of organic compounds that many other liquids won’t touch. That makes it a Swiss Army knife in manufacturing and chemistry.
In regulated flower and distillate production, the industry uses approved solvents like ethanol, butane/propane blends, CO₂, or supercritical CO₂ because they are considered safe, manageable, and testable. Common solvent optimization studies highlight those over things like toluene because cannabinoids dissolving efficiently is key, and toxic solvents aren’t desirable unless you’re doing something unusual.
— Toluene doesn’t appear on standard solvent lists precisely because of its health profile (it’s classified as a Class 2 solvent by FDA guidance, meaning it should be limited or avoided in products intended for human consumption).
So if toluene is present in a finished cartridge where you only expect ethanol, that’s a signal that something outside normal botanical solvent extraction may have happened, not that it was intentionally used as the primary extraction chemical.
