Featured Brand: Buddies
At a Glance
Categories: Vapes, Concentrates, Topicals, Capsules, Tinctures
Production Type: Manufactured products derived from premium indoor & outdoor flower and solvent-based concentrates
Regions: California, Nevada, Oregon, Washington
People: Bryan Cochran, President, Buddies
Certifications: Cruelty-Free
Ethos: Family, Friends, Buddies: high-quality products with a true-to-the-plant, full-spectrum experience at a practical price.
Built by Extractors. True to the Plant.
Buddies is a cannabis brand rooted in extraction-first expertise built by the people who actually make the oil, not just market it. Since launching in Oregon in 2017 (and Washington shortly after), Buddies has grown into a multi-state operator known for creating accessible, full-spectrum cannabis products that prioritize quality, transparency, and respect for the plant.
The company didn’t begin as a marketing concept, it started in the lab by extract lovers. The founding team brought deep hands-on experience in cannabis extraction, developing processes that allowed them to create consistent, high-quality products from the ground up.
At a time when many brands focused on packaging and distribution, Buddies focused on the most important step: making the oil itself. That extractor-first mindset shaped the company’s identity and remains central to its approach nearly a decade later.
The mission from the start was to create true-to-the-plant cannabis extracts that are accessible to everyday consumers, not limited to luxury price points.
Everything Starts With the Extract
Many cannabis brands source bulk oil and assemble finished products around it. Buddies takes a different approach.
Because the company is run by extractors, they control the entire process, starting with material selection, through refinement, and final formulation. This allows Buddies to maintain product consistency, protect terpene integrity, and deliver products that reflect the plant honestly.
Daily operations are led by President Bryan Cochran, guiding a company that continues to grow while staying grounded in its original philosophy: everything starts with the extract.
From Anti-Vape to Industry Breakthrough
When Buddies entered the market, vape cartridges were not part of the plan. Early on in vape-tech innovation, the category was filled with additives and artificial ingredients, practices that didn’t align with the brand’s standards.
Instead, Buddies focused on live resin, cured resin, and traditional concentrates.
The Buddies team developed an innovative terpene extraction process that preserved strain-specific, cannabis-derived terpene profiles at higher yields; a breakthrough that made it possible to produce higher quality vape cartridges:
- Cannabis-derived terpenes extracted in-house
- Zero fillers or additives
- True-to-the-plant formulations
The result was a vape experience designed to reflect the original flower rather than mask it.
The First True 100% Live Resin Experience
Innovation continued with Buddies’ development of a true 100% live resin cartridge, an ambitious goal at a time when many “live resin” products were blended with distillate.
Live resin presents technical challenges due to THCA crystallization, which makes maintaining a stable liquid form difficult. Through a careful low-and-slow process, Buddies created a solution that preserved the full-spectrum profile without additives or shortcuts.
The goal wasn’t only convenience, it was delivering the same strain-specific experience consumers expect from a dab, in a more accessible format.
A Wide Menu, Built With Purpose
Today, Buddies offers a diverse product lineup that reflects the many ways people choose to experience cannabis, but nothing is random or trendy. Every product starts from the same foundation: thoughtful extraction and intentional formulation consumers ask for.
From full-spectrum concentrates and hash to vape cartridges, tinctures, capsules, topicals, and beyond, the Buddies menu is designed to meet consumers where they are, whether they’re seasoned enthusiasts, wellness-focused users, or newcomers exploring cannabis.
This breadth isn’t about chasing categories; it’s about recognizing that cannabis is not a one-size-fits-all experience. Some consumers want high-terpene live resin, others prioritize discreet dosing, targeted relief, or non-inhalable formats. Buddies builds options across these needs while maintaining consistency in quality and transparency.
Rather than creating products for hype cycles, the brand focuses on delivering:
- Multiple formats for different lifestyles and comfort levels
- Clear entry points for new consumers alongside deeper offerings for connoisseurs
- Full-spectrum formulations that stay true to the plant across categories
- Reliable pricing tiers that keep quality accessible to all
The result is a menu where there truly is something for everyone — from the curious first-timer to the experienced extractor enthusiast — built around the same core philosophy: purposeful products that reflect real cannabis expertise.
The New Buddies Lineup: Built for All
Whether you dab, vape, dose, or soothe, Buddies has a clean, intentional product designed for every kind of cannabis experience. From strain-specific vapes, cured resin cartridges, and full-spectrum concentrates, to wellness-oriented topicals, soft gels, and tinctures, their impressive lineup is built to serve real lifestyles without compromising the integrity of the plant. Here’s a few standout products from a recent set of Budist reviews:
Buddies Frozen Bananas AIO Vape is made from 100% Live Resin, clocking in at 79.3% THC with a lovely terpene profile of caryophyllene (a little earthy-spice), limonene (a mouthwatering citrus), and humulene (sweet, hoppy, sharp). The flavor is outstanding with an effect profile to match. Derived from whole flower fresh-frozen at harvest, Buddies was careful to select portable hardware with pre-heat function and easy temp settings; every draw has a rich, clean taste and the device is rechargeable, giving powerful, tasty hits every time.
Buddies LCZ Cured Vape Cart offers a relaxing terpene profile of citrusy limonene, herbaceous linalool, and earthy myrcene. In addition to a healthy lineup of terps, LCZ contains 84.69% THC, giving a heavy cerebral high with a quick onset. LCZ is compatible with Buddies’ own 510 rechargeable battery with temperature settings that never burn the oil. I found mid-temp gave me full flavor and the big cloud experience I love.
Buddies Live Resin Soft Gels, made with “Lobster Butter” Live Resin, are a gluten-free, low calorie form of cannabis oil delivered in the familiar softgel capsule form. Buddies offers consumers this discrete product for a long-lasting option to enjoy the plant outside of inhalation. Buddies soft gels are precisely dosed with 25mg and metabolize in the stomach, thus they feel a lot like an edible experience in both effect and duration.
Buddies Fire & Ice Max Strength Roll-On is a fast acting, deep, tissue, cannabis, infused lotion roll-on. The handy roll-on bottle is brimming with a maximum strength advanced recovery formula lotion which relieves muscle pain and helps quell underlying inflammation. Formulated with a unique mix of cannabinoids THC, CBD, CBG and CBN, Buddies Fire & Ice is easy to apply, absorbs into the skin quickly without leaving a film behind. An excellent choice for every active adult’s wellness regime. And no, you won’t get high from a topical of this sort; while there are very rare reports of older individuals or those with compromised skin barriers experiencing a euphoric effect, such instances are highly unusual.
It’s all spicy Pine-Sol when I crack the Buddies Pink Grapefruit Terp Sugar— a hybrid-leaner, containing 76.43% THC and lots of the terpenes limonene, myrcene, and caryophyllene for a balanced, relaxing full spectrum dabbing experience. I vaporized a glob of Pink Grapefruit in an e-rig set to about 440F, it delivered a mouthwatering citrus wave of euphoria that started behind my eyes and emanated throughout my body.
Buddies Sunset 1:1:1 Açaí Berry Tincture, an incredibly effective yet sometimes overlooked method of consumption. In the strain “G Snow”, Buddies MCT-based tincture serves up the perfect recipe of complementary cannabinoids to help calm the body-mind connection to usher in deep sleep. Thanks to equal parts THC, CBD, and CBN, Buddies full spectrum live resin tincture delivers a balanced, restful night of sleep. Packaged in a frosted glass bottle with a marked dropper, dosing directions, ingredients, and other details about the tincture are clearly noted. The flavor’s sweet but not cloying, my sublingual (i.e., under the tongue) dosage helped me fall asleep 30 to 40 minutes later and when I woke, I was rested and felt energized without a residual high.
Transparency Above All
Whether producing premium live resin or flavored options, Buddies emphasizes transparency and clean formulations. The brand’s approach is consistent:
- Make the cleanest version possible
- Be honest about what the product is
- Price it fairly
- Give consumers the information they need to choose confidently
Trust, for Buddies, is built through clarity rather than marketing hype.
Growing With Intention
Since its founding, Buddies has expanded into a multi-state operator with facilities across the West Coast and beyond:
- California: Based in Shasta Lake, formerly operating as Tetra Labs before launching under the Buddies brand in 2019.
- Nevada: Newly launched market presence in Las Vegas area as of 2026
- Oregon: A 13-acre cultivation farm and full extraction facility in White City
- Washington: Manufacturing operations in Lake Stevens
Each region reflects the company’s commitment to maintaining hands-on control of production while scaling responsibly.
The Buddies Promise
At its core, Buddies believes cannabis is more than a product — it’s an experience rooted in culture, connection, and plant integrity. Rather than selling an image, Buddies focuses on delivering true-to-the-plant cannabis made by people who genuinely understand extraction. The result is a lineup designed to balance quality, accessibility, and authenticity.
Built by extractors, made for everyone — Buddies truly embodies their tag-line: Friends. Family. Buddies.
Learn more about Buddies Products in your state or find a store in your region.
Note: this article was created in partnership with the brand to help share their story in an informative, fact-based way. All reviews are written independently and reflect the fair and unbiased perspective of our critics.