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-hitters, but hated the fake metal cigarette and the dated looking glassware. Vapes were getting cuter but smoking accessories remained ugly, cloggly, and disastrous. What's fun about broken glass or burnt bangs?

Sara wanted something stylish and simple that would look good on anyone and could withstand a rowdy night out.

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 pipe moved from prototyping to production, and in February 2019, “BUDDY: The Black Denim Jacket of One-Hitters” launched to the public.


Following the 2020 holiday season, the first run of BUDDY had sold out. 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).