About a decade ago, Sara Hussain was flying in and out of Washington, D.C., bass in hand, en route to play shows with her “stonerglam” band, Nihilitia. She loved the reliability and ease of one-hitter pipes, but hated the fake metal cigarette and the dated looking glassware. Vapes were getting cuter but smoking accessories remained ugly, cloggy, and disastrous. What's fun about broken glass or burnt bangs?
Sara wanted something stylish that would look good on anyone and was sturdy enough for people who were tough on their gear.
The idea remained only a napkin sketch until Hussain found herself mired in postpartum depression coupled with the grief of losing her best friend and longtime bandmate, Brad.
“At that point I was drowning in loss and became consumed with the idea of creating something new,” she explains. “What I wanted simply didn’t exist, and I got tired of waiting for someone else to do something about it.”
Armed with a law degree and a decade of experience working in branding, Sara began a series of escalating dares with herself to prove her concept. She was also determined to bootstrap the operation without outside investment. The passion project moved from prototyping to production, and in February 2019, “BUDDY: The Black Denim Jacket of One-Hitters” launched to the public.
After becoming one of the buzziest smoking accessories of the 2020 holiday season, BUDDY sold out of its first run of product. Plunged into supply chain issues during the pandemic, Sara successfully onshored all manufacturing back to the United States.
Our brand is named in honor of our eternal muse and drummer extraordinaire, Dean Bradwell "Brad" Sheppard, Jr. (1980-2016).
Budwell understands that time is a finite resource. How and with whom you choose to spend your time says everything about you. We are here to help improve that experience.
