Expectations....
When I first encountered "Sinsemilla" in the mid-1970's, the buds were very small. The smoke was incredible. The terpenes were off the charts strong.
When I first encountered real Thai Stick, the buds were very small. It should go without saying (to anyone who was there) that Thai Stick was probably the best marijuana ever to exist on Earth!
In fact, it was quite rare to ever get any buds of size on the street.
It's normal to expect big, rock-hard rocky-dick buds, now....because that's part of what growers steered everything to back in the days when all those small-bud strains that smelled so strong, were getting growers put into prison! Growers trended everything towards big yields, instead of maintaining potency and flavor. And so now, people have come to expect big buds that you literally have to tear apart and slam into your nostrils before you'll get a vague idea of the terpene profile....and it usually turns out to be "fruity", "piney" or "gassy". ......*shrugs*