THCASmallBuds: a THCA flower shop whose certificates name another company, and what buyers report

Who they say they are, and what the record says

THCASmallBuds sells THCA flower from thcasmallbuds.com, a Shopify store. Buyers call it TSB. Its header reads "welcome to thca small buds a 3x hemp cup winner".[1] The site names no company and gives no street address. Its terms are a standard store template, "governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of united states", with no state named.[2] The only contact on the pages we read is the address sales@thcasmallbuds.com.

Figure 1. The storefront in May 2026. The banner advertises the THCA Queen's first anniversary, and the subhead promises lab-tested, hemp-compliant smalls. No page of the site names a company or an address. [1]

The About page tells the owners' story without naming them or their company. "Our owners have been involved in legal cannabis and hemp for nearly a decade", it says, and they "started some pretty cool companies like trim ready cbd hemp direct psilo mart and most recently thca king".[3] The story begins in Nevada, where they "offered delivery services to the local nevada community", and it ends with THCA flower: "companies of ours like thca king and thca small buds are now busier than ever". The "hemp cup" in the header refers to a 2020 prize: "we were also awarded 1st place in high times hemp cup for our paradise og cbd kief joint". We did not find the prize list.

Figure 2. The About page in May 2026. It says the owners started Trim Ready, CBD Hemp Direct, Psilo Mart and, most recently, THCA King. It names no owner and no company behind the shop. [3]

Figure 3. The same page's last section. It calls THCA flower a loophole in the 2018 hemp law, and it calls THCA King and THCA Small Buds companies of theirs. This is the shop's own statement of the tie that buyers describe. [3]

thcasmallbuds.com was registered on 10 October 2024 through GoDaddy.[4] thcaking.com, the sister store named on the About page, was registered on 14 July 2023 through the same registrar.[5] The earliest Reddit post about the shop is from 24 February 2025, from a buyer who had "just found thcasmallbuds.com", which they called "a sister company to thca king".[6] The shipping policy gives fulfilment hours in Pacific time: "fulfillment team monday through friday 9 00 am to 4 00 pm pacific standard time".[7] One buyer wrote in 2026 that "Thca small buds ships from las vegas".[8]

What they sell

THCA flower, sold as smalls in grades from outdoor to indoor and by weight from 7 g to the pound. The home page says "we specialize in lab tested thca flower smalls that are affordable high quality and hemp compliant".[1] A monthly strain is sold as the THCA Queen: "every month we feature a new queen and her unique thca strain", and "allegra was our first thca queen may 2025".[9] Product pages state an average potency rather than a batch result, such as "30 thca average potency" for light-assist smalls.[10] See THCA. When it is heated, THCA becomes THC.

Figure 4. The THCA Queen page in May 2026, offering the Allegra strain again for the anniversary. The page states an average potency for the line, and the certificate argued from below names no strain. [9]

Delta-9 THC edibles and drinks. Dank Bitez gummies give "10 mg delta 9 thc per gummy 20 per bag".[11] A soda gives "10mg thc per can".[12]

Mushrooms without psilocybin. The shop sells dried mushrooms and gummies described as "our psilocybin free magic mushrooms". The page says that "there are many tryptamines like 4 hydroxy tmt 5 methoxy nmt baeocystin that mimic the same effects as psilocybin or psilocin and are legal to consume".[13] The page does not say which compound the product contains or how much of it, and we found no certificate for it.

What buyers report

Method. Reddit was searched through PullPush on 6 October 2026 for "thcasmallbuds", "thca small buds" and "thca smallbuds", with each query paginated to the end.[14] That returned 2,693 items, from 2022 to 3 October 2026. The few from before 2025 use "small buds" for something else. Three readers each read a third, in date order. Counts are of distinct buyers describing their own orders, and each reader counted within their own period, so a buyer who wrote in two periods counts twice. Accounts that post referral codes were left out of the praise counts. In one period they wrote half of all lines.

	Feb to Aug 2025	Aug 2025 to Feb 2026	Feb to Oct 2026	total
arrived without trouble	25	14	35	74
delayed or not shipped	5	6	2	13
never arrived	0	0	2	2
seized by the carrier	2	0	0	2
wrong item or short weight	6	5	7	18
poor quality (substantive)	24	17	34	75
refund or claim refused	0	1	5	6
support unreachable or rude	3	5	5	13
praise	85	68	114	267

Shipping. Most buyers who mention delivery report no problem, and several give times of three days. In September 2025 a buyer with an order over $3,000 wrote that the label had been printed but the parcel had not moved: "Customer Service and the Sales email have both yet to respond".[15] Days later a buyer posted the statement then on the shop's site, which blamed demand from a holiday sale and "Our Simultaneous Move Into A Larger Warehouse".[16] Another buyer wrote that support had told them the old warehouse "was broken into over the holiday weekend".[17] In August 2025 a buyer wrote "After USPS seized my package" and said a promised reshipment never came.[18]

What arrived. Praise outnumbers complaint by more than two to one: "All of it was fresh, well cured, sticky and tasty",[19] "never had issues in over a year",[20] "Never been shorted".[21] One 2025 buyer wrote that the low prices let them buy flower and "still have enough money to live".[22] The complaints are mostly dry, harsh or hay-scented flower, seeds, and short or mixed-up orders. One buyer wrote "My order came 3 ounces short".[23] About ten buyers describe mould. In 2025 one wrote of "old rotten molded trash" in a pound order,[22] and in 2026 another described "white powder that looks like mold or chemicals or even detergent".[24] None of these reports includes a lab test.

Support. Accounts differ. One buyer wrote that "their customer service is non existent".[25] Another reviewed an order in which one strain arrived mouldy, and "TSB issued a same-day refund".[26] A third sent photographs of mould on a batch and wrote "I showed them a half dozen examples and they declined the claim".[27] The refund policy covers sealed goods only: "once any product has been opened or unsealed we are unable to accept it as a return or refund".[28]

Lab results

The test-results page says "we test each harvest lot and product batch to ensure it contains less than 0 3 delta 9 thc pursuant to the 2018 farm bill". It does not list the results. It says "below is a link to download all of our test results in a pdf file", and the button links to a shared folder on another service.[29]

Figure 5. The test-results page in January 2026, with the stock photograph between the header and the text cut out. It promises a test of each harvest lot against the delta-9 limit and offers one button to a download, not a list of certificates. [29]

Two certificates are hosted on the shop's own Shopify file store as images, and both are archived. They were read by eye.

• "THCA Queen", PharmLabs San Diego, sample SD250415-076. Received 15 April 2025 and reported 22 August 2025. THCA 33.80%, delta-9 THC 0.26%, total THC 29.90%.[30]
• "Bulk Indoor Smalls", PharmLabs San Diego, sample SD250405-048. Received 4 April 2025 and reported 22 August 2025. THCA 30.38%, delta-9 THC 0.19%, total THC 26.83%.[31]

Figure 6. The THCA Queen certificate hosted on thcasmallbuds.com. The client line reads Tested for Bay Smokes, the lab note says the Tested For field was corrected and then updated at the client's request in August 2025, and only cannabinoids and moisture were run. Total THC is 29.90%. [30]

Both certificates read "Tested for Bay Smokes". A certificate's "tested for" line names the lab's client, the party that sent the sample. The lab note on the THCA Queen certificate reads: COA Update 8/15/2025 "Tested For" corrected as per client request, then COA Update 8/22/25 "Tested For" updated as per client request. The Bulk Indoor Smalls certificate carries the second update only. So the client field was changed at least once, months after the test, and after both changes it names Bay Smokes, not THCASmallBuds. Bay Smokes is a separate hemp company. This site has no dossier on it.

Figure 7. The Bulk Indoor Smalls certificate, also hosted on thcasmallbuds.com. The same client, Bay Smokes, the same reissue date of 22 August 2025, and the same cannabinoids-and-moisture panel. Total THC is 26.83%. [31]

Both certificates test cannabinoids, moisture and water activity, and nothing else. They have no pesticide, heavy-metal, solvent or microbial result. The THCA Queen certificate was received in April 2025, a month before the page says the first monthly Queen went on sale, and it names no strain. Its 33.80% THCA is close to the "33 average thca potency" printed on the Queen page in May 2026,[9] but nothing ties that certificate to a given month's strain. /lab-results on this site holds no test of the shop's products.

Allegations: who says what, why, and what we could check

This section sets out four claims. For each it gives who makes it and what they stand to gain, what we could check, and how it stands. Nobody is named inside an allegation, and no allegation changes the score on its own.

1. That the flower comes from Bay Smokes. Who: three Reddit buyers in 2026, none with a stated interest. One of them, in a comment that disparages the shop, recommends other vendors. What: reading the certificate on a product page, one buyer wrote that "this flower comes from Baysmokes also".[32] Another wrote that "it said it was tested for bay smokes instead of thca small buds" and concluded the shop bought in bulk and resold it.[33] A third called it "basically all expired bay smokes trash".[34] What we checked: the two certificates the shop hosts. Both name Bay Smokes as the client.[30][31] How it stands: the certificates say what the buyers say they say. They show that Bay Smokes sent those two samples to the lab. They do not show who grew the flower, or that the jar a buyer receives came from that batch, and they say nothing about its age.

2. That THCA King and THCASmallBuds have the same owners. Who: many buyers from February 2025 onward,[6] and accounts named for the shop. On 6 May 2026 an account named u/Thcasmallbuds pasted the same comment into nine r/trees threads: "Use discount code 'PLAYBOY' at checkout", with links to both stores.[35] Another account posted that one code saves money "on any order at Thcasmallbuds.com AND ThcaKing.com".[36] These may be affiliates paid per sale rather than the shop itself. What we checked: the shop's own About page, which says "companies of ours like thca king and thca small buds".[3] How it stands: confirmed by the shop's own words as of May 2026. Two buyers say the tie has ended: support told one that "they are in no way connected with thca king anymore",[17] and another wrote in July 2026 that the shop "doesn't advertise thcaking as a sister site anymore".[37] The About page we read still names THCA King, and it was archived after the first of those posts.

3. That the flower is mouldy. Who: about ten buyers between September 2025 and September 2026, several of them in shop-named review subreddits. What: see What buyers report.[22][27][24] What we checked: the two certificates. Neither includes a microbial test, so they can neither confirm nor rule out mould. How it stands: unresolved. These are buyers' accounts with photographs, and there is no lab result either way.

4. Whether THCASmallBuds is tied to ShopZaza. This question came to us. We compared the archived file lists of thcasmallbuds.com and shopzaza.com. They share 0 of 1,970 and 688 uploaded image files, and 0 of 222 and 88 product addresses.[38][39] The house brands differ, and so do the labs: PharmLabs San Diego here, Excelbis Labs on ShopZaza's certificates. The registrars and mail hosts differ too. Among the 2,693 Reddit items about THCASmallBuds, none asserts a tie to ShopZaza or its sister store Smoke Kind. We found no shared operation.

If you bought from THCASmallBuds or THCA King, hold one of their certificates, or know who Bay Smokes supplies, rate the shop below and leave a note, or comment on the thread at the foot of this page.

Marketing

A page on the shop's own site, about THCA King, says customers "can trust that they're receiving high quality flower that is free from pesticides heavy metals and contaminants", and that its strains are ones "that you can buy off thcasmallbuds com".[40]

Figure 8. A page on thcasmallbuds.com promoting THCA King in August 2025. Point 2 says customers can trust the flower is free from pesticides, heavy metals and contaminants. Neither certificate the shop hosts tests for those. [40]
Neither certificate we read from the shop includes a pesticide or heavy-metal test.[30] The About page is frank about the law it relies on. It calls THCA flower "somewhat of a loophole in the industrial hemp agricultural act of 2018".[3]

Regulatory and legal

CourtListener's federal docket search returned no record for "thca small buds", "thcasmallbuds", "thca king" or "cbd hemp direct" on 6 October 2026.[41] An fda.gov search found no warning letter under those names.[42]

Legal status. Every page footer says "all thca smalls products are compliant with the 2018 farm bill containing less than 0 3 delta 9 thc", and the shop lists states it does not ship to: "we do not ship to states that have banned thca hemp products".[1] That claim rests on the 2018 rule, which counts only delta-9 THC. Congress changed the definition in November 2025 to total THC including THCA, "changing the limit to a total thc concentration of less than 0 3 on a dry weight basis rather than only delta 9 thc".[43] The shop's two certificates show 29.90% and 26.83% total THC, about a hundred times that limit. The change was due on 12 November 2026, and an act signed in September moved it to 11 December 2026 for naturally derived THC: "section 781 extension until december 11 2026".[44] One page mentions it. The soda listing says THC drinks "will most likely survive the imminent november 2026 thc ban".[12] The flower pages we read do not.

Age. The terms say "you represent that you are at least 21 years or older in your state or province of residence".[2] The pages we read do not describe an ID check.

Still open

• The owner. No legal name appears on the site, in the terms or in the domain record. A federal docket search returned nothing.[41]
• The full certificate set. The two certificates on the shop's own file store were read. The rest sit in the linked folder, and this page quotes none of them.
• Bay Smokes' role. Whether Bay Smokes grows, wholesales or only submits samples for this flower is not shown by any document we found.
• The mushroom products. No certificate naming their active compound was found on the product pages.

References

1. thcasmallbuds.com home page, archived 2026-05-01 — Wayback Machine
2. thcasmallbuds.com terms of service, archived 2026-05-01 — Wayback Machine
3. thcasmallbuds.com About page, archived 2026-05-02 — Wayback Machine
4. RDAP record for thcasmallbuds.com — Verisign
5. RDAP record for thcaking.com — Verisign
6. Thread in r/THCA_Online, 2025-02-24 — Reddit — anecdotal report, not evidence
7. thcasmallbuds.com shipping policy, archived 2026-05-24 — Wayback Machine
8. "West Coast Vendors?", r/CultoftheFranklin, 2026-05-15 — Reddit — anecdotal report, not evidence
9. thcasmallbuds.com, THCA Queen, archived 2026-05-24 — Wayback Machine
10. thcasmallbuds.com, Light Assist THCA Smalls, archived 2026-05-11 — Wayback Machine
11. thcasmallbuds.com, Dank Bitez delta-9 THC gummies, archived 2026-03-17 — Wayback Machine
12. thcasmallbuds.com, THC drink, archived 2026-05-24 — Wayback Machine
13. thcasmallbuds.com, magic mushrooms (psilocybin-free), archived 2025-09-05 — Wayback Machine
14. Pushshift-compatible search of Reddit for "thcasmallbuds", "thca small buds" and "thca smallbuds", run 2026-10-06 — PullPush
15. "THCASMALLBUDS Shipping Issues + Radio Silence", r/CultoftheFranklin, 2025-09-06 — Reddit — anecdotal report, not evidence
16. "Official Statement from TSB Website", r/CultoftheFranklin, 2025-09-10 — Reddit — anecdotal report, not evidence
17. Thread in r/THCaFlower, 2025-09-20 — Reddit — anecdotal report, not evidence
18. Thread in r/CultoftheFranklin, 2025-08-05 — Reddit — anecdotal report, not evidence
19. "Thca small buds", r/THCaFlower, 2026-05-16 — Reddit — anecdotal report, not evidence
20. Thread in r/trees, 2026-04-01 — Reddit — anecdotal report, not evidence
21. Thread in r/CultoftheFranklin, 2025-09-06 — Reddit — anecdotal report, not evidence
22. "THCA Small Buds | First Impressions & Review", r/trees, 2025-08-05 — Reddit — anecdotal report, not evidence
23. "Thca small buds costumer service?", r/THCaFlower, 2025-06-13 — Reddit — anecdotal report, not evidence
24. Thread in r/THCaFlower, 2026-05-30 — Reddit — anecdotal report, not evidence
25. "Thcasmallbuds best way to contact ?", r/CultoftheFranklin, 2025-09-21 — Reddit — anecdotal report, not evidence
26. THCA Small Buds review, r/CultoftheFranklin, 2025-10-28 — Reddit — anecdotal report, not evidence
27. "Heres my blueberry muffin", r/thcasmallbudzreviews, 2026-05-24 — Reddit — anecdotal report, not evidence
28. thcasmallbuds.com refund policy, archived 2026-05-24 — Wayback Machine
29. thcasmallbuds.com test results page, archived 2026-01-15 — Wayback Machine
30. Certificate of analysis SD250415-076, "THCA Queen", PharmLabs San Diego, reported 2025-08-22, image on thcasmallbuds.com, archived 2026-01-15 — Wayback Machine
31. Certificate of analysis SD250405-048, "Bulk Indoor Smalls", PharmLabs San Diego, reported 2025-08-22, image on thcasmallbuds.com, archived 2026-01-14 — Wayback Machine
32. Thread in r/CultoftheFranklin, 2026-03-06 — Reddit — anecdotal report, not evidence
33. Thread in r/THCaFlower, 2026-08-25 — Reddit — anecdotal report, not evidence
34. Thread in r/CultoftheFranklin, 2026-04-22 — Reddit — anecdotal report, not evidence
35. Thread in r/trees, 2026-04-20, with a comment by u/Thcasmallbuds of 2026-05-06 — Reddit — anecdotal report, not evidence
36. Post in r/ThcaSmallBudsOfficial, 2026-03-14 — Reddit — anecdotal report, not evidence
37. Thread in r/THCaFlower, 2026-07-11 — Reddit — anecdotal report, not evidence
38. Wayback Machine capture index of thcasmallbuds.com, every archived URL (1,970 uploaded image files, 222 product addresses), read 2026-10-06 — Internet Archive
39. Wayback Machine capture index of shopzaza.com, every archived URL (688 uploaded image files, 88 product addresses), read 2026-10-06 — Internet Archive
40. thcasmallbuds.com page "THCA King", archived 2025-08-06 — Wayback Machine
41. CourtListener RECAP searches for "thca small buds", "thcasmallbuds", "thca king" and "cbd hemp direct", 2026-10-06 — Free Law Project
42. fda.gov search for THCA Small Buds, THCA King and CBD Hemp Direct, 2026-10-06 — US Food and Drug Administration
43. Change to Federal Definition of Hemp and Implications for Federal Enforcement, CRS Insight IN12620, 2025-12-03 — Congressional Research Service
44. H.R. 6500, Continuing Appropriations Act 2027, enrolled bill, section 2019 — US Government Publishing Office