Weed grinders have long been an essential tool for cannabis lovers, and they are just as important, practical, and vital today in the era of vaporizers and legal weed. The best weed grinders can be made of plastic, carbon fiber, stainless steel, etc. There is not a one-type-fits-all ethos that comes with buying a weed grinder. Choosing the best grinder for you is a personal choice, and there are many things to consider when looking for a weed grinder near you.
James BickfordUpdated: December 28, 2021
Most popular
The Z Shredder
10/10
Made from aircraft aluminum
Four-piece
Magnetic top
The Z Shredder from Mig Vapor is a lightweight, four-piece grinder. It features an all-aluminum build. Users can use the Z Shredder for g...
The Z Shredder from Mig Vapor is a lightweight, four-piece grinder. It features an all-aluminum build. Users can use the Z Shredder for grinding dry herbs to a consistency suitable for vaping.
The top section, made up of two pieces, has fifty teeth between them. The teeth section is magnetic, so the two sides stay together quite well. The third piece uses a wire mesh to collect the freshly-ground material. A scrapper comes in the kit to make loading easy. The fourth and final section is a keef collector. The dry herb grinder measures 2 inches in height and 2.5 inches in diameter. It is lightweight and compact.
Thanks to its fully-automated design, the Tectonic9 auto-dispensing grinder is a revolution in weed grinding. The grinder is intended to take over the grinding process from start to finish – you do have to load it, though. The Tectonic9 has the outward appearance of a regular grinder with its top, two-layered grinder. But the grinder takes over with its automated process and pushes out fresh material from a spout for you to collect.
This Portable Mini Herb grinder from ePuffer is the perfect companion for any dry herb vaporizer. This herb grinder is a two-piece included in the ePuffer’s Cosmos dry herb device kit.
The top and bottom connect with a magnetic connection, so each piece stays in place. In addition, there is a small polyurethane o-ring around both sections. This o-ring cuts down on resistance and friction when grinding.
The entire grinder features an all aluminum-build. The magnets are neodymium, rare-earth magnets that make a strong connection between the two pieces.
The OTTO by Banana Bros is every cannabis lover’s dream (or not, if they enjoy rolling), as the grinder is fully automated from start to finish. Users need only give the machine the right amount of material to the top-side grinder and attach the plastic funnel with a newly-rolled cone. The grinder has a single button to start the process, which takes only a few seconds from start to finish. There’s no mess, and the cone will come filled and ready to light.
The Kannastor GR8TR V2 is a premium herb grinder that features several different removable plates for different types of consistency. Users can install a new plate into the multi-leveled device to get finer or coarser consistencies depending on their needs. The pre-installed plate has a medium texture, while the vaper plate grinds material into a more delicate, smaller type. The grinder is made from lightweight, food-grade aluminum and features a kief collector.
The Santa Cruz Shredder is a two-piece grinder with a sifter section. The top and bottom teeth can be cut both ways. This means that users can turn them in either direction and still cut up their materials.
The teeth design is unique to Santa Cruz grinders. The entire unit features anodized aluminum throughout its build. The high-quality finish of the Santa Cruz shredder means it is scratch-resistant. It comes in either gloss or matte finishes.
The top and bottom sections feature rare-earth magnets that secure each of the two pieces together. The two parts also have knurled edges, so gripping them and grinding do not need so much pressure from the user.
The Mig Vapor Bolt Shredder is a 50 blade shredder of dry herb materials that can reduce large buds into tiny ones. The Bolt Shredder is an all-aluminum tool that features four levels so users can comfortably collect their material from the wire mesh underneath. The device also comes with a kief-collector at the bottom in other media like edibles and other herb byproducts.
The Aerospaced Groove features a unique dry herb grinder design that slices more than shreds. The Groove features a series of sharpened slots that finely slice, and dice dried material in the top when pushed together with the top half. This design results in finely shredder material suitable for both vaping and smoking that drops gently down into the third level of this four-level, all-aluminum unit that comes in several solid color options.
Cali Crusher is a famous name in grinders because it has been making them for a long time. The Cali Crusher Homegrown is the brand’s flagship product that features its patented Quick Lock feature to secure each grinder piece. It also features the super-versatile teeth that shred and fluff when turned in different directions. In addition, the Homegrown is a four-piece grinder with a removable screen for easier cleaning.
The Marley Glass and Walnut wood grinder combine traditional materials with more advanced ones like aluminum teeth. This multi-level grinder features an array of perfectly spaced grinding teeth so users can change the consistency of their grind depending on their effort. The device also includes a clear acrylic chamber so users can see the amount of material that has been ground up in the bottom.
The GRAV 3-Piece is a smaller dry herb grinder than the multi-level ones on this list. The GRAV is only about 1″ tall and features only three levels. The unit has an all-aluminum build that is both lightweight and sturdy. It features 15 teeth grinding surfaces that are arranged to allow for easy transfer of ground-up material to the wire mesh screen below. The unit also comes equipped with a pollen catcher and tool made specifically for kief collection.
A basic weed grinder consists of at least two halves that can be interlocked and separated easily. Some weed grinders have more than two levels, but we’ll get to that later. Grinding up weed can be done in many different ways, but a weed grinder is commonly used.
There are thousands of different types of weed grinders ranging from your cheap, plastic head-shop kinds to multi-leveled, stainless steel heavy-duty types. A quality grinder may not seem like something worth investing in, but getting a good grinder can have a lot of benefits.
Makes effective use of material – a quality grinder can transform a small bud into a lot of material, maximizing its use and eliminating the need to use a lot.
Kief-catcher – “kief” is the powdery material created when marijuana buds are broken. It is a natural byproduct of marijuana and has multiple uses (making edibles, hash, etc.)
Fast and easy – there are other ways to grind up weed (scissors, coffee grinders, etc.), but they are usually time-consuming and require more effort than using a simple grinder.
A consistent grind every time – a good weed grinder will create a finely-ground product, or something more coarse, depending on what you want or need at that moment
How Do Grinders Work?
Grinders work by crushing, shredding, and grinding marijuana buds in-between their interlocking teeth. A quality dry herb grinder will have perfectly arranged teeth to consistently deliver a ground-up product suitable for joints, vaporizers, or other types of cannabis products. These accessories typically have two halves, often joined with threading or by a magnet in the center.
Users need only to place small buds onto one half of the tool, place the second half over it and join them together. Then they just start turning clockwise or counterclockwise depending on their specific tool. Once they have turned the device close to ten times or less, they can open it again and let the ground-up material fall to a clean, flat surface.
Some grinders, however, have a third-level where the ground-up material is deposited after it is ground-up. These accessories are more convenient as all the ground-up material is neatly and cleanly collected so users can easily access it. This third level makes grinding marijuana even more accessible and is one sign of a quality product.
How to Choose The Best Weed Grinder
The best weed grinder needs to have three main qualities:
Portability
Functionality
User-friendliness
However, making a small yet powerful, easy-to-clean weed grinder is challenging. Only very few manufacturers have been able to meet it. Some brands do succeed in making highly portable, good-performing grinders. Furthermore, they also went the extra mile to fulfill users’ needs of weed vapes and vaping fans around the globe. Out of many dozens, three brands have managed to secure the three best weed grinders spots on our 2022 list. But before we talk about the best weed grinders, let me answer the question that I know you have in the back of your mind.
Do You Need a Weed Grinder?
In other words, is a weed grinder even worth the money?
Well, the short answer is an absolute yes. But, if you want to know the long answer, here it is.
Grinding increases the overall surface area of herbs. That way, more weed gets in contact with the heating element. It not only ensures a smooth flavor but also guarantees that you get more out of your herbs. Also, there are barely any leftovers or un-vaped herbs in the chamber. The weed grinders with excellent quality cost a fair bit of money.
However, you’ll be saving a lot more in terms of getting more vapor and more satisfaction out of the same amount of herb.
A good dry herb grinder will yield very finely ground herb. It will be small enough to offer a maximum surface area for vaping. On the other hand, it will be large enough to avoid passing through the vape screen.
You need to keep in mind some of the common problems with most weed grinders. First, they accumulate flowers on the blades and inside the grinder itself. As a result, this can be counterproductive. It can result in herbs going to waste. Moreover, it makes clean-up a tedious process.
What Size Weed Grinder Should I Get?
The type, size, material of weed grinder you should get depends on many different factors. But maybe the most important thing to consider is how often you will be using it. If you are a heavy, long-time cannabis user, you probably already own a high-end, quality grinder made from quality materials.
If you are only a casual user, then you may want to get something middle-of-the-road, something that is not too expensive, not too big, but has some good points (multi-level, lightweight materials) as well. The great thing about grinders is that there are so many different types, makes, models, brands that choices are abundant in the market for everyone to find their ideal device.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is it illegal to buy a weed grinder on Amazon?
No, it is not illegal to buy a weed grinder on Amazon. The company has no policy against selling these products unless you’re underage. Grinders are legal items, and there are no laws preventing people from buying them either in person or online. Some online or in-person vendors may ask for ID if someone is underage, but purchasing a dry herb grinder on Amazon is perfectly legal.
Should I use a weed grinder?
It’s up to you to use grinders for what it was intended for, but there are other ways to go. For example, some people like to chop up their material with a sharp kitchen knife. Others dump into a coffee grinder and let it spin. Others use scissors. Grinders are the most popular for regular users, but if you are only a casual, sometimes user, you could use other tools you have.
What makes a good weed grinder?
There are a lot of things that make quality shredding herb grinders. Things like:
Versatility – does it let you change the plates, consistency? Does it allow you to remove parts to clean them?
Durability – is made from high-quality materials? Do you prefer aluminum, stainless steel, wood, or plastic?
Price – do you want to spend a lot of money? How often do you/would you use it? Does it justify the cost?
Size, design – do you want a big one, medium, small? What do you want it to look like?
There are other things to consider like brand, features, and whether you want an automatic or manual grinder.
Is there an automatic weed grinder?
Yes, as you can tell from this list, there are more than a few automatic grinders that can not only grind material but roll it up as well! Of course, there are many more automatic grinders out there than listed here, but remember that you do not have to spend a lot of money on something to get a good grind.
Can you use a spice grinder for weed?
It depends on the spice grinder. If it is big enough to handle large buds of marijuana, then you could try, but make sure you clean it well before putting any other type of spice or herb into the grinder. Most people use a coffee grinder because it’s easier, but shredded weed has other possibilities.
Can I bring a weed grinder on a plane?
A used grinder with material still inside would not be a good idea to take on a plane. A new, unused grinder with no material anywhere near it is a safer bet. But even a used grinder with no material inside could set off alarms and raise questions, so better not to take a used grinder with you on a plane.
Do you have to be 21 to buy a weed grinder?
It’s hard to say, especially with so many different laws in different states. Some shops in legal states could ask for ID or not sell accessories to minors, or not. Buying these accessories is not illegal but do not be surprised if someone asks for ID.
Weed Grinders: Conclusion
You should already have a grinder if you’re a serious herb vaper. And by any chance, if you haven’t, choose any of the best weed grinders we’ve discussed above. You can thank us later. You’ll get an exponentially better taste from the same vape and the same herb. You’ll never want to go back to scissors or a cheap generic grinder again. Maybe you’re worried about the initial investment. Don’t worry. You’ll be saving a lot more in the long run in terms of better taste, more vapor, and more satisfaction.
Published: May 18, 2017Updated: December 28, 2021
Follow:
Posted by
James Bickford
My way of understanding the significance of vaping came not only through the disruption of smoking but its effects on society as a whole. Now I bring people to vaping and bring vaping to people. I love using new gear, writing in-depth reviews and generally nerding out about vaping to like-minded people.
Comments
Leave a comment