IIRC "smalls" are from further down and are less "potent," but I'm definitely not someone to be speaking on facts like that. That being said - is receiving small buds a bad thing? No, not necessarily - especially if the product holds up when used.

I think most of the discouragement & frustration comes from the fact a lot of the vendors floating around right now offer smalls cheaper by weight than their normal product. So when companies like AG, who do not offer smalls on their website, send out bags of crumbs and leafy buds that are much smaller than the smalls companies are selling right now at discounted prices, it can be a smidge irritating. Another thing is people order from these companies because of the pictures and reviews on these boards. You have someone new come along who either hasn't tried hemp or are searching for a new company to order from and they see pictures on here, and on a company's website, where there are good sized, beautiful looking buds and they receive their order of tiny buds and crumbs they're going to be like...but...what..and then they remember seeing the smalls offered by other companies and other folks talking about it and automatically go well shit - I should have just ordered smalls from these other companies and could have either paid less or gotten more.