Brand Files
43 guides tagged Brand Files
Field Notes
Who Is ELYXR? A Brand File on the Storefront Behind the Recall
A smoke-shop hemp storefront branded 'ELYXR LA' that's actually run from Miami by a company its own website never names. We traced the entity through an FDA recall notice, a state filing, and a BBB page, and the anchor event needs precise words: a May 2026 voluntary recall of a chocolate sold through its site for an undeclared prescription drug. We lay out exactly what's confirmed, what's mitigated, and what's simply not disclosed.
Read the guide →12 min read
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Who Is Cali Extrax? A Brand File on the Name That Rides 'Extrax'
Almost everyone assumes Cali Extrax is a Delta Extrax sister brand from Savage Enterprises. The filings say otherwise: it's a separate Wyoming-formed LLC with one name in the paperwork, a contact page that returns a 404, and a real named-lab COA library whose panels test potency and almost nothing else. Getting the record straight is half this file.
Read the guide →12 min read
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Who Is MoonWlkr? The Delta-8 Brand With a Secret NASDAQ Parent
It looks like every anonymous delta-8 brand: galaxy branding, no names, no address, no legal entity anywhere on the site. The twist is that the truth exists. MoonWlkr is owned by a NASDAQ-listed company whose SEC filings disclose the parent, the factory, even the factory's move to Florida. The brand just never tells you any of it.
Read the guide →12 min read
Field Notes
Who Is Happi? A Brand File on the Seltzer That Broke the Grass Ceiling
A Michigan-born THC seltzer with the best-verified lab testing in the drinks tier: a named, accredited lab, a full contaminant panel, and a COA that matches the label. It even names its co-packers, region by region. So why a C? The company behind it is traceable only through the SEC, not its own site, and the record carries one undisclosed lawsuit outcome and one notable silence.
Read the guide →11 min read
Field Notes
Who Is Crescent Canna? A Brand File on the #1 THC Seltzer's Maker
The New Orleans company behind Crescent 9, the Nielsen-verified best-selling THC drink in American grocery, liquor, and convenience stores, runs the best drink-brand testing program we've graded: 300-plus public batch COAs from a named, accredited lab, and we pulled one ourselves to check the dosing. It held up. The C is about everything upstream of the lab: unnamed farms, a hybrid manufacturing setup it doesn't fully explain, and money it doesn't discuss.
Read the guide →11 min read
Field Notes
Who Is Wynk? A Brand File on the Engineer-Built THC Seltzer
Three engineers built a THC seltzer company that actually makes its own product: a 53-foot mobile canning line that grew into a half-million-square-foot New York plant with patented dosing tech, and a named, credentialed extract supplier. Rare stuff. So why a C? The testing lab is never named, the funding is a black box, and the independent review trail is thin.
Read the guide →11 min read
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Who Is Extract Labs? A Brand File on the Veteran-Founded Lab With a Spotty Record
A Boulder-area CBD maker with real transparency bones — a verifiable Army-veteran founder, a public batch database, SEC-documented ownership, genuine USDA-organic SKUs — pulled down to a D by a verified adverse record: an FTC cease-and-desist demand over COVID-19 claims, a 2025 Class II allergen recall of 60,000+ gummies, bottom-tier customer and employee ratings, and a testing setup that lost its name when the in-house lab was sold.
Read the guide →12 min read
Field Notes
Who Is Lazarus Naturals? A Brand File on the Seed-to-Shelf Value House
A Portland original that does the transparency work almost nobody else does — it owns its farm, names its USDA-organic certifier, names its ISO-accredited lab, and runs a public batch portal, all at value prices with a 60%-off assistance program. What holds it to a B: a settled data-breach class action, a settled Prop 65 notice, rough workplace reviews, and several big claims — cGMP, employee ownership, B Corp status — that are currently self-asserted rather than shown.
Read the guide →12 min read
Field Notes
The 2026 Hemp Ban, Brand by Brand: Who Survives, Who's Exposed
We graded 41 of the biggest hemp, CBD, and THC brands on 300+ public records. Now we've mapped every one of them against the federal law that takes effect November 12, 2026. The result: 24 of 41 have their core catalog exposed, 8 are built to survive, 3 are insulated by dispensary licenses, and the brands most likely to make it are also the most transparent.
Read the guide →16 min read
Field Notes
Who Is Litto? A Brand File on the Anonymous Vape Brand
A popular LA-styled hemp-THC vape brand with a slick catalog — and almost no verifiable company behind it. No disclosed legal entity, no named founders, a disputed founding year, an unnamed lab, and COA pages that don't always load.
Read the guide →9 min read
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Who Is Hidden Hills? A Brand File on the Smoke-Shop THC Brand
A fast-growing, LA-styled hemp-THC vape and edible brand with named manufacturing partners (including a Nasdaq hardware maker) — but weak lab transparency, a heavy counterfeit problem, an 'F' at the BBB, and an open Prop 65 notice.
Read the guide →10 min read
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Who Is Medterra? A Brand File on the Mass-Retail CBD Brand
A big, NSF-certified, US-Hemp-Authority CBD brand you'll find in CVS and Kroger, with QR-batch COAs and a strong customer rating. The asterisks: a 'F' BBB rating, labs it doesn't clearly name, a panel that skips herbicide testing, and a merger that hasn't actually closed.
Read the guide →10 min read
Field Notes
Who Is Green Roads? A Brand File on the Pharmacist-Formulated CBD Brand
A long-running, pharmacist-founded CBD brand with per-batch QR COAs and an independent lab test that actually passed — genuine strengths. The asterisks: a 2017 FDA warning letter, dismissed mislabeling suits, thin sourcing disclosure, and an ownership chain that's changed hands three times.
Read the guide →11 min read
Field Notes
Who Is Bluebird Botanicals? A Brand File on the Testing-Transparency Veteran
For over a decade, Bluebird set the standard for CBD lab transparency — a named lab, a public batch database, Eurofins-audited cGMP, and a founder who helped write the 2018 Farm Bill. Then, in January 2026, a public company bought it. A strong B, with the asterisk that its independent era just ended.
Read the guide →12 min read
Field Notes
Who Is NuLeaf Naturals? A Brand File on the Veteran With a Hidden Owner
A 2014 Denver CBD veteran with genuinely strong batch testing — and a transparency record that hasn't kept pace with its reputation. It no longer names a founder, no longer mentions that a public Canadian company owns 80% of it, blurs 'organically grown' into 'organic,' and has seen its service reputation slide. A D, kept off the floor by a real lab program.
Read the guide →12 min read
Field Notes
Who Is Joy Organics? A Brand File on the Family Organic CBD Brand
A family-founded Colorado brand built on USDA-organic sourcing, THC-free formulations, and full-panel batch testing — strong where it counts, with named owners and a clean, accredited record. It earns a solid B; the gaps that keep it from the top tier are a lab that isn't named on its official page and a manufacturing model it doesn't spell out.
Read the guide →12 min read
Field Notes
Who Is Cornbread Hemp? A Brand File on the Kentucky Organic Leader
A cousin-founded Kentucky company that built its whole identity on transparency — USDA-organic, Flower-Only, Kentucky-grown, with a named lab on every batch and its ownership on the public record at the SEC. It earns an A−, the top grade any brand has reached without full public-company audits; the honest gaps are self-asserted cGMP, uneven label accuracy, and a live BBB grade lower than its fans assume.
Read the guide →12 min read
Field Notes
Who Is cbdMD? A Brand File on the Public, NSF-Certified CBD Brand
A publicly traded, NSF-GMP, US-Hemp-Authority-certified CBD brand with full-panel COAs — credentialed and transparent on paper. The asterisks: it won't name its testing lab, it carries a disclosed going-concern doubt after narrowly avoiding delisting, and legacy SEC matters trail its former leadership.
Read the guide →11 min read
Field Notes
Who Is CBDistillery? A Brand File on the Value-CBD Heavyweight
One of the biggest, most affordable CBD brands — and a more transparent one than its low prices suggest. It names its accredited labs, carries NSF and US Hemp Authority certifications, and rolls up to a publicly traded parent. A strong B, held just short of the top by thinner sourcing disclosure.
Read the guide →11 min read
Field Notes
Who Is Cann? A Brand File on the Celebrity-Backed THC Drink
The best-selling THC beverage in California publishes some of the most rigorous lab reports in the business — and still got hit with a prosecutor's settlement for selling drinks whose THC didn't match the label. Both things are true, and you should know both.
Read the guide →11 min read
Field Notes
Who Is Charlotte's Web? A Brand File on the CBD Brand That Set the Standard
The company that started the modern CBD industry is also the most transparent brand we've graded: a publicly traded, USDA-certified-organic, B-Corp company that grows its own hemp and posts named-lab, full-panel batch COAs. Our first A — with a couple of honest, mostly-old asterisks.
Read the guide →12 min read
Field Notes
Who Is Cookies? A Brand File on the Iconic Cannabis Lifestyle Brand
Berner's Cookies is one of the most famous names in cannabis — a global lifestyle and licensing empire. It's also a different kind of company than the hemp brands we usually grade, and on our consumer-transparency rubric it scores low: testing lives at the dispensary level, not the brand's, and its public record is dominated by a thicket of (unproven) partner and investor disputes.
Read the guide →12 min read
Field Notes
Who Is CBDfx? A Brand File on One of the Bigger, More Open CBD Names
A large, founder-named California CBD company that posts public lab reports with QR traceability and earns an A+ at the BBB — more transparent than most. The asterisks: it won't name its testing labs, its 'organic' is marketing not certification, and it drew an FDA warning letter in 2022.
Read the guide →11 min read
Field Notes
Who Is STIIIZY? A Brand File on America's Best-Selling Cannabis Brand
The #1-selling US cannabis brand is a real, regulated, vertically integrated company with named founders — genuinely more accountable than the anonymous operators we usually grade. But on transparency and record it's weighed down by a confirmed pesticide recall, a major data breach, and a thin voluntary-COA trail, especially on its hemp line.
Read the guide →12 min read
Field Notes
Who Is Just Delta? A Brand File on JustCBD's Intoxicating Sister Brand
The delta-8 arm of Just Brands — the company behind JustCBD, founded by a Forbes 30-Under-30 entrepreneur and once bought by a NASDAQ-listed company. That public chapter makes it more traceable than most. The catch is weak product-integrity transparency and a history of 'how much is really in it?' lawsuits on the CBD side.
Read the guide →11 min read
Field Notes
Who Is Torch? A Brand File on the Anonymous Smoke-Shop Vape Giant
One of the most-stocked hemp vape brands in smoke shops — high-potency disposables full of novel cannabinoids — sold by a company that won't name its founders, its factory, or even the lab on its own COAs. For a disposable vape, the unverified contaminant testing is the part that should give you pause.
Read the guide →11 min read
Field Notes
Who Is Cycling Frog? A Brand File on Hemp's Most Vertically Integrated Name
Made by Lazarus Naturals — a hemp company that owns its Oregon farm, runs its own cGMP factory, and uses naturally-occurring delta-9 instead of chemically converting it. It's the most transparent supply chain we've scored, and our highest grade. The soft spots are workplace reviews and a settled data breach, not the product.
Read the guide →11 min read
Field Notes
Who Is Diamond CBD? A Brand File on a Troubled Public-Company Name
One of the older, larger online CBD brands — and one with the most complicated public record we've examined: a disputed 2018 contamination study, 2019 FDA and FTC warnings, a settled mislabeling suit, and a now-revoked penny-stock parent whose principals (not the company) were criminally charged. We lay out exactly what's proven, what's disputed, and what's just old.
Read the guide →13 min read
Field Notes
Who Is Delta Munchies? A Brand File on the Candy-Styled Gummy Maker the FDA Warned
Surprisingly strong lab work for a candy-branded edibles company — a named, accredited lab and full-panel, QR-verifiable reports. The anchor on its grade is a 2023 FDA/FTC warning letter over packaging the agencies called appealing to children.
Read the guide →11 min read
Field Notes
Who Is Galaxy Treats? A Brand File on the 'Moon Babies' Maker
A colorful, candy-styled THC-gummy brand with a genuinely good lab habit and a clean regulatory record — wrapped around a company that won't tell you its legal name, where it's made, or who's on the team. Popular and accountable on testing; a black box almost everywhere else.
Read the guide →10 min read
Field Notes
Who Is Koi CBD? A Brand File on One of Hemp's Original Names
One of the oldest CBD brands still standing — a named, family-owned company that posts real lab reports from an ISO-accredited lab and has been independently ranked among the most transparent in the industry. The asterisks are two FDA warning letters (2019 and 2023) and independent tests showing it tends to over-fill its potency.
Read the guide →11 min read
Field Notes
Who Is Urb? The Hemp Brand You Can Audit on the SEC's Website
Urb is unusual in this category: it's owned by a publicly traded company, so its finances, ownership, leadership pay, and lawsuits are all filed with the SEC. That transparency is real — and it also lets you read, in the company's own words, a going-concern warning and a settled lawsuit over mislabeled potency.
Read the guide →12 min read
Field Notes
Who Is Brez? A Brand File on the Viral THC + Lion's Mane Social Tonic
One of the fastest-growing hemp-THC beverages in the country — founder-led, bootstrapped to profitability, and genuinely well-liked. But it's stronger on marketing than on the two things our score cares about most: verifiable lab testing and clean billing.
Read the guide →11 min read
Field Notes
Who Is Cake? A Brand File on the Most-Counterfeited Vape in Hemp
It isn't one company — it's a contested trademark buried under counterfeits. The legitimate owner won a landmark federal case, but there's no single official site, no open named-lab lab reports, and a journalist found one circulating 'Cake' COA that appeared to be forged. The result: you often can't verify what you're holding.
Read the guide →11 min read
Field Notes
Who Is Exhale Wellness? A Brand File on the Popular-but-Opaque Hemp Brand
One of the most-reviewed hemp brands online, with a genuinely strong customer rating — and one of the more opaque companies we've examined. It won't name its lab, its manufacturer, or even its own founders, and it lists three different addresses.
Read the guide →11 min read
Field Notes
Who Is TRE House? A Brand File on the CBDfx Sibling Brand
It posts some of the best lab reports in hemp — named, accredited labs, full panels, batch-specific — and yet it won't name its founders on its own site, lists a blank 'manufacturer' on its own COA, and carries a roughly two-star consumer rating.
Read the guide →11 min read
Field Notes
Who Is Binoid? A Brand File on the High-Volume Hemp Retailer
A traceable, founder-run company with a huge catalog of lab-tested hemp products — and an 'F' from the Better Business Bureau, a 2.4-star Trustpilot, lab reports that name no lab, and a 'team of 50+' that independent data puts closer to nine.
Read the guide →11 min read
Field Notes
Who Is Delta Extrax? A Brand File on the Savage Enterprises Hemp Brand
It posts real ISO-accredited lab reports and sells a huge range of hemp-THC vapes and edibles — but it won't say who makes them, carries an 'F' from the Better Business Bureau, faces a 2025 state attorney-general lawsuit, and once hosted another company's COA on its own lab page.
Read the guide →12 min read
Field Notes
Who Is Wyld? A Brand File on America's Best-Selling Edible
Wyld makes the #1 cannabis gummy in the country, it's bootstrapped, and it's made entirely in the US — genuinely impressive. So why does the brand that dominates the edibles aisle make its own lab reports so hard to actually see?
Read the guide →11 min read
Field Notes
Who Is Hometown Hero? A Brand File on the Veteran-Owned Delta-8 Fighter
The Austin company that grows its own Texas hemp, publishes full-panel batch lab tests, and literally took the state to court to keep delta-8 legal. It's one of the more transparent brands we've examined — with a couple of honest asterisks.
Read the guide →12 min read
Field Notes
Who Is Mood? A Brand File on the 'Pick-a-Feeling' Hemp Giant
One of the largest hemp-THC catalogs you can buy from a single site, run by a traceable founder and tested by named labs — but it won't say who actually manufactures its products, and an unproven lawsuit makes a serious claim we cover carefully.
Read the guide →12 min read
Field Notes
Who Is 3Chi? A Brand File on the Delta-8 Pioneer
The company widely credited with starting the hemp delta-8 boom makes its own product in an audited GMP lab and hides almost nothing about who runs it — but its workplace reviews and customer ratings tell a rockier story. Here's the receipts-first reality.
Read the guide →11 min read
Field Notes
How We Score Cannabis Brands: The Kind Buds Brand Transparency Score
An open, point-by-point methodology for grading the companies behind your hemp and THC products — who makes it, what's in it, who's testing it, and who's behind the LLC. We score what a brand will show you, and we never invent what it won't.
Read the guide →12 min read