What is a grinder? A grinder is a device designed to break the bud into fine, evenly ground bits. Because cannabis buds are typically large, dense, and sticky, they must be properly prepared prior to being rolled. While it is possible to break up bud with your hands, most prefer the help of a grinder.
Should you buy a grinder? YES, you cannot roll great joints or smoke slow burning bowls without one and they don't have to break the bank! There’s a range of different grinder options available; however, we will cover the four basic categories you should be aware of when considering a quality weed grinder.
Types of Weed Grinders
WHY TO USE A WEED GRINDER
So, now you understand why you should be grinding your weed. But why exactly should you bother with a weed grinder? After all, there are plenty of ways to grind weed that don’t involve forking out your hard-earned cash for an accessory that it doesn’t seem like you really need.
If you’re doubting whether or not you need a weed grinder, here are some simple reasons you should reconsider.
BETTER CONSISTENCY
Using a grinder is the best way to ensure your weed is ground to an even consistency. This is important to ensure an even extraction of the compounds within the plant, regardless of whether you use a vaporizer or even a traditional method like a pipe or bong.
If you smoke joints or blunts, using consistently ground weed is also really important as it ensures for an even burn throughout and makes for easy rolling.
While methods like the good old “shot glass and scissors” work fine in an emergency situation, a grinder is a much simpler way to ensure your weed is cut to an even consistency every time.
BIGGER, DENSER BOWLS
Some cannabis users swear that loading loosely broken or even whole buds into their pipes and bongs produces denser and more potent hits. However, we suggest that grinding your weed produces the best hits on a bong or hit.
This is because, by grinding your weed, you're able to pack bigger, denser bowls. Sure, you might end up using more weed in order to fill a bowl completely, but you can easily fill your bowls half way if you prefer.
By using ground weed, you’re able to increase the surface area of the cannabis in your bowl, which makes for a cleaner, more potent burn. Bowls containing ground bud will also be easier to draw, making for a more enjoyable smoking experience and more potent hits.
THICK, POTENT VAPOR
If you use a vaporizer, it is vital you use properly ground weed. Vaporizers work by either heating the air around a product (convective heating) or the surface beneath it (conductive heating). By grinding your weed, you’re able to expose more surface area to this heat, which essentially allows for better extraction of the compounds within your buds.
If you were to load a whole bud into a vaporizer, you simply wouldn’t be able to produce thick, consistent vapor as the heat of the vape wouldn’t be enough to toast the core of the bud. Plus, you’d probably have to crank up the temperature of your vaporizer and risk combusting your weed and inhaling smoke instead of vapor.
CATCH THAT KIEF!
Who doesn’t love kief? Whether sprinkled on bowls or joints or used to make killer homemade hash, kief is a favorite concentrate among both recreational and medical cannabis users.
Kief is made by carefully separating trichomes, the tiny frosty hairs found on cannabis buds, from the rest of the plant matter to produce a cannabinoid-rich concentrate. This process occurs naturally whenever you handle or grind weed and, thanks to new grinding technology, you’re now able to catch all that kief that you’d otherwise just lose.
To ensure you stop wasting all that precious kief whenever you spark up, we recommend investing in a 4-part grinder with a kief/pollen catcher.
How to Clean a Sticky Grinder
One day, you’ll have used your grinder so often that it will become sticky with kiefy resin. The threading on the sides where pieces screw together will become gummy, making it difficult (or impossible) to twist open. Avoid having your grinder lock up on you by keeping it clean; here are a few tips for keeping things running smoothly.
- Rub the sticky grinder parts with isopropyl alcohol and salt. This is a go-to cleaning method for pipes and bongs, but it works just as well for getting rid of the stickiness on grinder pieces.
- Use a small brush (e.g. a stiff-bristled paintbrush, or a clean beard brush or toothbrush) to knock kief loose from the screen.
- Freezing your grinder makes it harder for kief to stick to surfaces. Consider putting your grinder in the freezer before cleaning up the kiefy mess if it’s being particularly stubborn.
- For really irredeemably sticky grinders, sometimes it’s best to just replace the thing altogether, especially if it’s a cheap grinder.