This past weekend the California cannabis community got together for the 2026 California Leaf Bowl. Buddies entered products in four categories and walked out with six first-place wins and a runner-up.
Awards are nice. But we want to do something more useful than post a photo of the table. This is a walkthrough of what the Leaf Bowl is, why the judging matters, and what each winning product is made of. Because at Buddies, the story has always been about what is in the package.
What Is the Leaf Bowl?
The Leaf Bowl is the flagship competition series from Leaf Magazines, the publisher behind California Leaf, Oregon Leaf, and Northwest Leaf. Leaf has run Bowls up and down the West Coast and beyond for years, and the California edition brings the state's licensed growers, extractors, hash makers, and product makers together for one day of judging, vendors, music, and community.
Producers enter head to head in specific categories. Flower is judged against flower. Carts are judged against carts. Softgels are judged against softgels. When a trophy is handed out, it reflects how that product held up against the other brands in the same category.
They are peer awards, judged by people who know the plant, against products made by people who are very good at what they do.
Why This Matters to a Brand That Makes Its Own Extract
Most people assume that if a brand sells a vape cart or a softgel, they must be making the oil. In a lot of cases, they are not. Plenty of brands source bulk oil, buy hardware and packaging, and assemble the pieces.
Buddies started as extractors. We still are. Every product below began as flower coming into our lab and leaving as extract we made ourselves. We control the input, the process, and the output. That is the whole reason we can be transparent about what is in a product and still keep the price fair.
So when a Buddies cured resin cart, a live resin softgel, or a topical is judged against the best in California, it is our lab's work on the table. That is the part we are proud of.
If you want the longer version, Leaf Magazines ran a Grow Tour on Buddies that covers how we approach cultivation and extraction in Oregon.
The 2026 California Leaf Bowl Awards
Vapes
Super Boof 100% Cured Resin Vape Cart
Winner: Best General Hydrocarbon Cart
One gram of full-spectrum cured resin in a ceramic cart, made from indoor flower. Hydrocarbon extraction (BHO) is where Buddies got its start, and cured resin carts are one of the products that put us on the map in Oregon. Nothing is added back in. The terpenes in the cart are the terpenes that came out of the Super Boof flower, so what you taste is the strain.
Pink Lemonade Flavor Infused All-In-One
Winner: Best Distillate AIO Vape
Our Flavor Infused line pairs premium cannabis oil with a flavor profile built for people who want something bright and easy. Pink Lemonade comes in a one gram rechargeable all-in-one with a live display that shows oil level and battery. We have always been upfront that this is a flavor-infused product, not a strain-specific one. Winning the category tells us the market appreciates the honesty as much as the flavor.
Concentrates
Cream Smoothie Cured Resin Terp Sugar
Winner: Best Crumble / Sugar
Dabbable concentrates are the products we made before we ever made a vape. This terp sugar is extracted in-house from single-source indoor flower and cured to bring out a loud, crystalline texture with a heavy terpene layer. Of all the categories we entered, this is the one closest to our roots, and winning it means a lot to the extraction team.
Edibles and Tinctures
Papaya Bomb Live Resin+ Slumber 1:1:1 Softgels
Winner: Best Alternative Cannabinoid
Our Live Resin+ Slumber softgels combine strain-specific live resin with a precise 1:1:1 ratio of 5mg THC, 5mg CBN, and 5mg CBD per softgel. 60 softgels per bottle, 900mg total cannabinoids, full spectrum, indica. The Alternative Cannabinoid category recognizes products that go beyond THC alone, and CBN-forward formulas are exactly the kind of thing our encapsulation team has been refining.
Blue Dream Live Resin+ Sunrise 2:1 Tincture
Winner: Best Beverage / Tincture / Syrup
The Sunrise Tangerine tincture is liquid live resin with 5mg THC and 2.5mg THC-V per serving, 60 servings per bottle, 450mg total cannabinoids. It is a sativa, and Blue Dream is the strain behind it. THC-V is a minor cannabinoid that more people are asking about, and this is our take on it in a format that is easy to measure.
Ghost OG 25mg RSO Softgels
Runner-Up: Best Capsule / Tablet
Our strain-specific RSO softgels are one of the newest products in the California lineup, and they are already on the podium. Each softgel carries 25mg THC from whole-plant Ghost OG RSO, 40 softgels per bottle, 1000mg THC total, full spectrum, indica. RSO is a full-extract oil that keeps the cannabinoids, terpenes, flavonoids, and fatty acids from the plant together, and the softgel format makes dosing consistent.
Budist reviewed the Ghost OG RSO Softgels recently. Read the Budist review here.
Topicals
Fire & Ice MAX Strength 3oz Roll-On
Winner: Best Topical
Fire & Ice MAX is our highest-strength topical: 1000mg THC, 1000mg CBD, 150mg CBG, and 150mg CBN in a 3 fl oz cannabis-infused lotion roll-on. Fire & Ice also won Best Topical at the 2026 Oregon Leaf Bowl earlier this year, so this product has now taken the category in two states in one season.
If you want to try it before committing to the full bottle, the Fire & Ice MAX trial mylar is a 0.25 fl oz single-use pack with the same four-cannabinoid formula.
Thank You, California
Awards are nice. The people are the reason we show up.
To the Leaf Magazines team and the judges for putting on a competition that takes the work seriously and treats every entry with respect.
To everyone who came by the Buddies booth, asked good questions, and hung out with us. The best part of these events is meeting the people who actually use the products.
To the retail partners and budtenders across California who put Buddies on the shelf and take the time to explain what is in the package. You are the reason the transparency matters.
To our crew in Shasta Lake, the extractors, the encapsulation team, the packaging team, and everyone in between. Every trophy on that table is yours.
Where to Find the Winners
All seven products are available now at licensed California retailers.
- Use our store locator to find a dispensary near you
- Browse the full California product lineup
- Heading to a Buddies event? Check our events page to see where we will be next
Life is better with Buddies.
Buddies products are available only at licensed retailers. For adults 21 and over or valid medical patients only. Keep out of reach of children and animals. CA License DCC-10003316.
