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Time to toss that old plastic one from the corner store. Aluminum Weed Container
Cram your hard-earned Runtz in a shitty plastic grinder. Stiffly twist it for a few turns, a few clicks, a few squeaks. Open it up and see nothing's really been ground at all. Dish out the chunky weed into a rolling paper or bong, and that first hit—which should be a perfect, beautiful experience—is a bit stiff. You need help. The answer? A great weed grinder.
This is one worth-the-investment weed accessory. Get a good one in stainless steel with diamond-cut blades and you’ll be set for years of smoking (or baking, decarboxylating, etc.) the goodies like Snoop Dogg with his pipe. Get a better one in a brushed gold or walnut wood finish and you’ll readily place it on the coffee table with a stoner pride. So, yeah, get a good cannabis grinder (ahead you'll fine some tips on how to pick). And the following 15 best weed grinders—most with three or four pieces to mince bud, sift pollen, and store the results—will elevate your puff-puff, pass ways.
Kannastör's grinder is a mix-and-match marvel with extra storage options, two removable screens, and the option to break it down into a more portable size. Better yet, it comes with two interchangeable grater (hence the name) plates so you can pick your coarseness—fine or medium. Made with hardened aluminum in a matte design that looks real nice, it'll last you.
Sackville & Co.'s Signature grinder wasn't built to be shoved into a junk drawer or lost under the couch. It glimmers, it is gold. Or rather, brushed brass. It's a statement grinder if we've ever seen one. Besides aluminum sharp grinding teeth and a scraper, the catch compartment is impressively spacious.
The grinder is nearly as big as the palm of your hand, great for when you have a considerable amount of bud and don't need to be discreet. A turn or two with the sharp teeth will make short work of your tightest nugs, nice and smooth. The only catch is that it doesn't come with a kief catcher.
The large Tectonic9 leans to the Inspector Gadget side of things. You put the weed into the chamber and grind it up, standard procedure. But accessing it is what is pretty damn nifty: That silver dispenser flips up from underneath the grinder and fits over a hole (which you manually open and close). Tip, and freshly ground herb neatly falls out through vibration. No need to stick your brawny finger in.
Smoking weed alone is cool, even preferable sometimes, but nothing beats getting together with friends to share some bud. For such an occasion, you need a big boy party size grinder. The Gilded Grinder from Sackville & Co. is exactly that. This extra large, extra deep grinder is perfect for a crew, and like the other Sackville & Co. grinder, it makes a great piece of home decor.
You get into spoil-yourself territory with the Santa Cruz Shredder. Known for its unique tooth design, it churns out perfectly ground, fluffy weed into a canister sealed with extra-strong magnets. You buy it once, then never have to worry about buying a grinder again. Choose from a range of vibrant colors.
If you'd call your personal style modern and refined, then here's a grinder to match it. Made from hand-turned walnut wood with a solid aluminum core, it is an accessory worthy of top-grade flower. Furthermore, its grip is ergonomic, and it has a large basin to catch the debris. You'll proudly display it on the coffee table while you wait for the next sesh.
This one has a very "I love the Allman Brothers and Stevie Nicks," neo-Wild Child feel. And hey, while the not be your thing, this is way better than some shit with, like, Baby Yoda or Rick and Morty on it.
It's a four piece build, so it catches your kief, and the teeth are sharp enough to get the job done.
Higher Standards makes some tough grinders—all out of solid, aircraft-grade aluminum—but this one might be the most useful. At only 1.6 inches across, it's best for travel; and instead of a predictable design, it looks like it belongs to the engine of a 1961 Jaguar E-Type. Despite the small size, it is a full four-piece set, and the diamond-shaped teeth can pulverize weed into a fine powder.
Why bother moving your wrists at all? That's quite a chore. Lonzen engineered an electric grinder in the discreet shape of a pen, made with stainless steel blades, that can blitze at a velocity of 24,000 RPM (!) through bud in merely seconds, dispense it neatly, and store whatever's left over. And there's even a glass viewing window for you to marvel at the grinding process. Just push the button and go.
For a more tactile option, get a hand-crank grinder. A spin of the handle operates blades that chop up weed. The clear lid allows you to monitor the entire operation.
Instead of aluminum or zinc alloy like most cheaper grinders, Iaso's grinder is constructed out of stainless steel. That means the canister and its teeth will last a lifetime of grinds. Iaso also uses a special labyrinth seal design intended to prevent annoying binding or sticking. It's a luxe option for sure.
Looking like a pharmacy bottle for medicine that may or may not be prescribed, the Medtainer is airtight, water-tight, and scent-trapping, with a grinder built into the cap. Handy, and very fitting for "medical" marijuana.
The evil cousin to your Pomodoro Clock. Instead of regimenting your day and heightening productivity, blend hours together and make sure not a lick of productive work happens all day.
In addition to being a cute, inconspicuous little grinder, this thing has a nice set of sharp teeth and surprisingly large collection chamber. Perfect two-gram blunt days.
Here's where things get wild: a smart grinder. Eliminate user error altogether. The Otto automatically adjusts to the herb, sensing exactly what grind is required for the best results. Then, it funnels what it grinds directly into a paper cone for easy rolling (you can skip this step). Of course, then you're stuck with machine maintenance—charging, storage, cleaning, all that. Nevertheless, it's a cool gadget.
Pieces and layers: A no-frills, inexpensive but solid two-piece grinder—the OG—that only grinds is adequate for doing the weed. And that's also where the upgrade starts. You can get a grinder with diamond-cut teeth that’ll slice and dice the marijuana into a fluffy mound. You can get one with a mesh screen that’ll sift out the chunks and preserve the extra-potent pollen. And a big upgrade is a grinder with a storage compartment that'll ensure not a gram of the bud goes to waste. Basically, the more pieces it has—ideally at three or four—the better, especially if these extra layers come with kief catcher and/or pollen scrapers, which they do most of the time.
Ease of use: Within all those pieces should be legitimate upgrades to the grinding experience. Modern-day corpo weed is so dense and sticky, you need a serious grinder to do the job. A good number and pattern of sharp teeth (which all these grinders have) will ensure you are actually cutting your weed, not just putting pressure on it until it squeezes together. And beyond the teeth, the grinder needs to be easy to take apart, so you can clean and empty it without any trouble.
Material: Per usual, you'll want something that can last. But for weed grinders, a durable shell alone won't cut it. The teeth need to be as durable and razor-sharp to mill even the thickest nugs into a nice grain for rolling and packing.
Size: 2-inch, 2.5-inch, 3-inch, When you see these specs, note that they're referring to the size of grinder as determined by the diameter of its loading disc—where you stack in the cannabis herb—not the length (unless stated otherwise). As with most good things, the bigger, the better—meaning the more flower you can load in for a big-sesh grind. And the 3-inch mark is where a large grinder hits.
Now, we'll take the opportunity to pair this guide with an always-crucial reminder to smoke responsibly. We don't mean legally; we're no sticklers for the word of the law, especially when the law itself is outdated and unjustly enforced. Besides, with Joe Biden in the Oval Office, nationwide decriminalization isn't quite the pipe dream it once was. We mean, support grassroots legalization and social justice efforts in the cannabis industry, and buy from BIPOC-owned dispensaries or companies that give back to communities when possible. It's an easy choice to make. Do it for the culture.
Luke Guillory is the Associate Commerce Editor at Esquire.
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