Herb Grinders

aussem9

ketchuprocket
Hey Guys,

I currently own the original DaVinci vape, and will most likely get the new Arizer Air as soon as it goes on sale. I'm really big on overall vaping efficiency, and I've boiled it down to these two amazing herb grinders for vaping!

I'm leaning more towards a 2pc because many claim its slightly better for a finer grind than the 4pc with the holes.. etc when it comes to vaping. I also don't see the need to collect kief since I'm extremely conservative with my herb, and would like as much crystals and residue on my botanical as possible before I load up each bowl.

I'm pretty sure there's already several solid posts regarding these grinders, but before making the final choice any additional input would be fantastic!

Cheers
 
aussem9,
  • Like
Reactions: Kief

mixchu69

Well-Known Member
I just purchased the SCS three piece and its a great size. I'm not into collecting Kief, so the three piece is smaller, a great case, and can load directly into my s&b filling aid? I want the least amount of contact with my hand, esp. the good sticky flowers making my fingers sticky. But the best aspect of it is its size. Can easily fit in pocket and have your flowers ready
 
mixchu69,

ChippyMalone

Be here now.
Accessory Maker
The double thickness extra heavy Mendocino Mulcher is now my favorite. Better grip, I live the extra weight, and lots more teeth . Also, I liked the low budget website that looks like its just some dude cranking out enough of these after hours in the machine shop

Here's my review

Herb Grinders
 
Last edited:
ChippyMalone,

Traaaaan

Well-Known Member
Grind upside down in your 4 piece of you want a fine grind.

The only advantage I see a two piece having over a 3 or 4 piece is that it is thinner and fits in the pocket easily.
 
Traaaaan,

mixchu69

Well-Known Member
What do you guys do when you first get your grinder? Do you wash it with hot water, boil it, or ISO it? Just a curious OCD
 
mixchu69,

CrimsonKing

The Destroyer Of Worlds
Not bad at all.
That actually beats the Ebay price by $2
They are 40 dollars with free shipping on Ebay
(sometimes they pop up for less)
http://www.ebay.com/itm/like/251741484540?item=251741484540&lgeo=1&vectorid=229466&rmvSB=true

Yeah it was the 4 piece I grabbed one.

What do you guys do when you first get your grinder? Do you wash it with hot water, boil it, or ISO it? Just a curious OCD

unless its an SCS as they advertise (or at least used to) that their grinders went through an ultrasonic cleaning process after machining (an US jewelry cleaner will do the same thing) I always give them a good wash with a mild soapy solution and scrub them with a tooth brush or something then rinse in iso and good to go. Almost all grinders are machined on a CNC and the process requires oils and leaves behind metal shavings. All of that being said is the average grinder safe to use right 'out of the box' probably but I want to make sure I don't get any foreign materiel in what I am grinding especially machine oil or metal shavings :2c:
 
CrimsonKing,
  • Like
Reactions: mixchu69

ChippyMalone

Be here now.
Accessory Maker
A quality American made grinder from Space Case, SCS, Mendo Mulcher, etc was almost certainly cleaned up during final finishing. Old tooth brush and dish soap would be more adequate.

A Chromium Crusher or similar nice but discount device from Amazon made in India/China from recycled ranrom pot metal from a decommissioned secret chemical munutions factory should probably be prepared by covering it with a thick protective layer of gift wrapping paper.
 

max

Out to lunch
A quality American made grinder from Space Case, SCS, Mendo Mulcher, etc was almost certainly cleaned up during final finishing. Old tooth brush and dish soap would be more adequate.

A Chromium Crusher or similar nice but discount device from Amazon made in India/China from recycled ranrom pot metal from a decommissioned secret chemical munutions factory should probably be prepared by covering it with a thick protective layer of gift wrapping paper.
Your assumption about aluminum quality being proportional to selling price is incorrect. I've used the full range of grinders, price wise, and the inexpensive Chromium, Smart, Cali Crusher brands perform and hold up as well as the pricy ones. They just don't have the burrless perfection of the SC and SCS brands.

As for avoiding ISO in cleaning a grinder, there's certainly no reason for that. It makes cleaning much easier and quicker. I've never used anything else. You just have to avoid letting it sit on o-rings for any length of time. That's never been a problem for me since I don't soak, just clean w/ISO and a toothbrush and rinse with water.
 

max

Out to lunch
aussem9 said:
would like as much crystals and residue on my botanical as possible before I load up each bowl.
That's not a brand issue. That has to do with how you grind and whether the kief will stick to the ground bud or be like shake in a bag of buds.

The double thickness extra heavy Mendocino Mulcher is now my favorite.
Although it's been a while, both the small 2 pc. and larger 4 pc. Mendo's I've used had only 2 edges to the teeth (front and back), making it very easy to cut through the bud, but almost impossible to get a fine grind. For most vape models though, you don't need a fine grind anyway.

The only advantage I see a two piece having over a 3 or 4 piece is that it is thinner and fits in the pocket easily.
Price, 2 pc. vs. 4, is a big advantage if you're buying expensive brands. That said, this time of year your herb is gonna dry out much quicker and kief can separate from your ground bud and be much easier to lose. Yesterday I ground a couple of big buds from a small, sealed bag (had to cut it open), and even though it was sticky bud, I got a lot of separation and ended up sifting it though the screen on a 4 pc. With the kief all collected in a small container, I'll definitely lose less than if I'd left it all together. OTOH a kief box can be inexpensive and process a lot more at once.

As for SC or SCS, the SC has the typical diamond shaped tooth design, while the SCS teeth are squared off. Easier to get a fine grind with the SCS but if you load it up, it can also be much harder to turn. I have the SCS 2 pc. mini, and I've had to give up and unload it more than once. Just couldn't turn it due to the squared off tooth design. A larger size would be a lot easier to turn, but the small SC works great for me, and you can pick one up on eBay for well under $20. The same size SCS would cost you considerably more. For a 4 pc., I wouldn't consider either brand- just too much $. I've got affordable brands that do just as well.
 

TommydCat

Well-Known Member
I usually sprinkle a bit of ISO onto each cutting side of my SCS grinders, use a dish brush (mine's a glass scrubber with a neck and a circular brush on the end) - I just twist the side into the brush a couple times, close the sides together with some ISO still inside, shake it like a Polaroid pict-chah, and it rinses perfectly clean. After lightly toweling dry it turns so smoothly like the precision machine it is.

On my 4 piece SCS, the ISO shake-it dance gets that screen pretty clean that seems to gum up pretty quickly for this brand. Perhaps just a light brushing for anything thick, but it'll come right off after the shake. I usually clean this one about once a month and it keeps the kief piling up... Still wanting to move to a 3 piece myself since I prefer to vape what I grind instead of collecting it, but keeps the collectors collectin' for those that like that route.
 
TommydCat,

EverythingsHazy

Well-Known Member
For most vape models though, you don't need a fine grind anyway.

Really? You'd think that since they aren't burning away the outer layers of plant material to release the cannabinoids inside of them. that more surface area to the ground bud would be better.

The herbalAire is the only one I've read does just as well if not better with a whole bud. Which I still find kidna weird.
 

mixchu69

Well-Known Member
I will try ISO during the cleaning with toothbrush, it seems no need to soak. I just have ocd tendencies while a friend of mine would just use it straight.
 
mixchu69,

Maine420

GROOVY GRANNY
I clean mine with Grunge Off. Grunge off is reusable. After soaking, just return Grunge Off to container and reuse. Much cheaper than ISO in the long run, and doesn't dull the shine of product. Does a great job on grinders (and glass, and screens).
 
Maine420,
  • Like
Reactions: Tom Funk

ChippyMalone

Be here now.
Accessory Maker
Really? You'd think that since they aren't burning away the outer layers of plant material to release the cannabinoids inside of them. that more surface area to the ground bud would be better.

The herbalAire is the only one I've read does just as well if not better with a whole bud. Which I still find kidna weird.

I've found that the last thing I want is a perfectly consistent grind almost regardless of whether I want it more coarse or more fine. I want a consistent range of sizes from the granule of kief to pieces perhaps 2mm in diameter. I find that I get the most flavorful and pleasant hits this way.

Prior to becoming disabled, I was an educator at a children's science museum (Yes, it really was the best job ever). I think one of the models I built for kindergarteners to explore the concepts of volume and space packing of spheres might be applicable here.

Imagine a big see through plastic garbage can. The first thing I'd do is fill it with three basketballs. I'd ask the kids is this trashcan full of basketballs? Can I fit any more basketballs inside?

Then I'd pour in a big bucket of baseballs to fill in the empty spaces between the basketballs. Now is the bucket full?, I'd ask the kids.

I kept doing this with smaller and smaller balls until I finally filled it the can with a big bag of sand. This is the point where the children finally decide that I've actually filled in all the spaces between all the balls with sand.

So when the kids finally decided that the can was full of balls and sand, I surprised them by pouring almost half a trash can of water into the "full" can, and it was at this point that the kids understood that you could keep adding smaller and smaller balls into the can without ever actually filling all the space. With high school kids or adults, we could then start talking about the empty spaces between the water molecules or even the empty space inside of atoms, and it gets kinda mind boggling when you realize that the seemingly "full" can is actually almost completely empty space!!!! But with kindergarteners, we skipped that part of the lesson for more important things: playing with mud. I think the best moments of that job were when I would witness the adults in the room suddenly realize that the 4 year olds had a better understanding of a scientific concept than they did before walking into my theater.

So let's step out of the science demonstration theater and take a look at our grown up problem. In our situation, let's replace the water with the heated air we are passing through our cannabis. If we use the finest, most consistent grind, we can maximize the amount of material that fits into the given space, but we then limit how much empty space is available for the air and vapor to pass through through the material. With too finely ground material, I find that the heated air often opens up a single wide channel that scorches a small area but leaves much of the material untouched.

What seems to work best for me is to grind to a consistency where you recreate my trashcan of sports balls situation: a very few larger chunks to act as scaffolding to support the various other sized bits in place, but with a random distribution of sized particles to ensure that there are lots of different ways that air pass through the material so that it can be exposed to lots of different surfaces along the way.

And because this is the real world where each of us is a completely different individual using different devices to vaporize different materials, we have to use our big monkey brains and a little bit of science knowlegede to tinker and experiment with these variables each and every day with every new strain we meet.

For those of you who just don't care for science, you can just throw a little chunk in there and vape it. Once it is crispy, grind it into smaller pieces with whatever tool you choose, and then vape it some more.
 

lwien

Well-Known Member
Hmmm....:hmm:. Never thought of it that way before.

Very enlightening, Chippy. Thank you.

Will now have to try a combo of an MFLB Finishing grind mixed in with a Space Case grind.

This kind of experimentation can be never-ending, eh? ;)
 
lwien,
  • Like
Reactions: Shrike

ChippyMalone

Be here now.
Accessory Maker
Hmmm....:hmm:. Never thought of it that way before.

Very enlightening, Chippy. Thank you.

Will now have to try a combo of an MFLB Finishing grind mixed in with a Space Case grind.

This kind of experimentation can be never-ending, eh? ;)

Well, if you'd like to step inside my lab, you'll need to don your personal protective equipment and don't forget your lab book, as we take grinding really serious around here.

Today, we will be studying just one variable: the effects of vertical vs. horizontal orientation of the teeth during grinding.

There will be a Pass out/Fail practical quiz at the end, so PAY ATTENTION and stop screwing around back there with your lab partner!
 

Scott A

Well-Known Member
Ive done a lot of different experimenting but a finer grind always seems to work better no matter what vaporizer I use. Personally I would avoid the small santa cruz shredders because I had the same problem as @max with it. If the weed is really dense or you try to put to much in it you will find your self with a grinder that is impossible to spin. Its happened to me enough to become a real annoyance so I just dont use that grinder anymore.
 
Scott A,

max

Out to lunch
Personally I would avoid the small santa cruz shredders because I had the same problem as @max with it. If the weed is really dense or you try to put to much in it you will find your self with a grinder that is impossible to spin.
I don't know about the small. I have the Mini, and the teeth are shaped for grinding, not cutting, so you can't load it up. The lack of a grip machined into the top doesn't help either.
 
max,

ChippyMalone

Be here now.
Accessory Maker
As for grip, the extra tall and heavy small Mendo Mulcher has the most aggressive knurled and faceted edges of any small 2 piece grinder I've used.
 
ChippyMalone,

Kief

Medicated
Personally I would avoid the small santa cruz shredders because I had the same problem as @max with it. If the weed is really dense or you try to put to much in it you will find your self with a grinder that is impossible to spin. Its happened to me enough to become a real annoyance so I just dont use that grinder anymore.
Is yours also a mini (1.7in)? The mini is very different from the small and large sizes, the only thing they have in common is the tooth design. It is much thinner than the other sizes so it's hard to get a good grip on it and it has a lot of teeth for it's size. I agree that the mini can be very hard to turn when loaded up (depending on the material), but that does not apply to the other sizes of Santa Cruz Shredders. I use my mini for an extra fine grind and I'm pretty happy with it, you just have to load it right so it will turn. The mini SCS should be compared to other mini/micro grinders that are the same size or smaller, not the small (2 in.) or larger size grinders. Apples and oranges.

I own many grinders (10 maybe)... 1 Space Case and 3 SCS's, the 2-pieces Shredders are worth the few extra bucks IMO... I agree that the 4-piece high-end grinders are too expensive.

I don't know about the small. I have the Mini, and the teeth are shaped for grinding, not cutting, so you can't load it up. The lack of a grip machined into the top doesn't help either.
But this thread is all about the small... You should try a small SCS max, I'm willing to bet that you will like it.
 
Top Bottom