What Makes A Good Weed Grinder?
A weed grinder is the most important marijuana accessory there is, it's your sidekick that will make smoking weed so much better. Of course, you can get by without a grinder (by grinding your herb with your hands), but this will not be very efficient (or fun). Grinders are simple tools yet they’re extremely important, they crush your weed up so that you don't have large nugs and therefore they create more surface area of weed, in turn giving you a more even and longer-lasting burn. Some types of grinders are better than others and we have tried them all so you don't have to, this guide will tell you all about how to pick a good weed grinder.
How to Shop for an Herb Grinder
Before getting into the nitty-gritty of what makes for a good grinder, you should first consider what you're looking for. Knowing what you want out of a grinder will make it easy to pick the right one and feel happy with your purchase. If you're someone who smokes a lot then it will make sense to buy a really nice grinder with all the bells and whistles, if you're someone who is more of a casual smoker then a simple cheap one will do. Along these same lines, there may be reasons to buy more than one grinder if you're an avid smoker since some grinders can be used for specific purposes that others can't. Once you determine what you need out of your grinder, you will probably be wondering where to find them. The best and easiest way to buy a grinder is at an online store such as fatbuddhaglass.com; online shops give you the most variety and some of the best prices.
Why Should you use a Grinder?
You might be wanting to know why you should buy a grinder… after all we are telling you that you absolutely need one. A grinder breaks down your herb into smaller bits and pieces and creates a more even consistency. This is especially necessary when you want to roll up and smoke a joint or a blunt. If you don't have a fine enough consistency then rolling your joint will be tough and it won't be good to smoke. Even in other smoking devices having appropriately sized buds is helpful, it makes your bowl last longer and you will get higher than if you didn’t use a grinder. Grinders can also ensure that you don't waste any herb, they have multiple layers that collect even the finest grained weed bits. Plus, some grinders even come with kief catchers, and if you don't know what kief is, it's a more concentrated part of the plant that you can use for a better high.
Parts of a Weed Grinder
Although grinders differ slightly in what they can do, all grinders have some common parts that might be helpful to know about. For starters, all grinders have a lid and a grinding chamber, both of which have teeth, which is what does the grinding. But although all grinders employ teeth, the teeth come in all kinds of different shapes: diamonds, spearheads, straight, shark-shaped, etc. No matter what though, all grinder teeth work from top to bottom, this is to prevent jamming.
How to Use a Weed Grinder
The first step to using a weed grinder is to remove the lid. After that, take your nugs of weed and stick/wedge them in-between the teeth, which should be exposed now that the lid is off. Try to avoid the middle of the grinder as your herb won't get ground up as well in the middle. After that, simply place the lid back on and twist your grinder for about 10 rotations, that's it!
Styles of Weed Grinders
As discussed earlier, there are many different types of weed grinders, read further to see which one best suit your needs.
The card herb shredder is great because it is extremely portable, and you don't have to worry about jams. Standard herb grinders can be a pain to carry around for when you are trying to smoke away from home. The card shredder on the other hand can easily fit inside a wallet and still does a great job of grinding up your weed. Lastly, card herb shredders are extremely cheap, so it might be a good idea to get this type along with another weed grinder— that way you'll always have one that you can keep in your wallet to act as a travel or emergency backup grinder.
2-Piece Herb Grinder
The most common and simplest of herb grinders is the 2-piece herb grinder. What this means is that there's simply a lid and a base (both with teeth), nothing else. This type works great and is known as old reliable, there's nothing that will make its use complicated or hard to understand and it will always deliver a great even burn.
3-Piece Herb Grinders
A three-piece grinder, as you might've guessed, has an extra chamber to collect even finer-sized nugs of weed. Because of this, a three-piece grinder will generally create more uniform-sized weed nugs since the smaller pieces will be separated into their own chamber with other nugs of the same size.
4 and 5-Piece Herb Grinders
A four-piece grinder is even more advanced than a three-piece, the fourth chamber is where you're going to collect kief. This is where having an extra chamber really comes in handy as you will truly be wasting next to none of your herb and will have a chamber full of extremely potent bud. You can either sprinkle it on top of your other weed to give your stash a little extra kick or you can smoke a bowl full of just kief if you're feeling adventurous. Five-piece grinders are for those who want to make sure they collect even what appears to be just marijuana dust.
Grinder Bottles
Grinder bottles are a little different in that they not only crush up your herb but also have a place for storing it. Usually, the top part of the bottle is just like a traditional grinder and the rest of the bottle is used to store your herb. Despite their bigger size, these bottles can be convenient for travel as they keep everything in one place.
Electric Herb Grinder
If you don't want to have to manually twist your grinder's teeth, then you may want to consider an electric herb grinder. All you do is plug it in, place your nugs inside and let it work its magic. It's essentially a blender for cannabis.
So, Which Ones Are Best?
Which grinder is best depends on what you're looking for. If you just want something that gets the job done and gives you a better smoke session then the two-chamber grinder is for you. If you're someone who wants to experiment with kief and can afford the slight extra cost of a four-chamber grinder, then go for it! If travel is most important for you then either the card grinder or bottle grinder will do, depending on what type of travel it is that you regularly do. Ultimately you can't go wrong, any grinder is going to enhance your smoking experience and make you glad you got one.
