Herb Grinders

[Shit Snacks]

Been a while, but have you received your United Machining Grinder yet? No rush, but have been waiting for the word on if I should pull the trigger or go with the premium Flower Mill. Just wondering, as it seems like some are getting their grinders while others have not

Check out the UMG thread here, mine should arrive tomorrow unless there's a delay!

 

[orangehaze]

Check out the UMG thread here, mine should arrive tomorrow unless there's a delay!

Awesome will do! Can't wait to check out your detailed review though! Love reading all that info and the experiences you have!

 

[Vitolo]

Love reading all that info

@Shit Snacks is definitely a grinder sabe kinda person!

 

[Shit Snacks]

@Shit Snacks is definitely a grinder sabe kinda person!

Haha I swear I never thought I'd be (I never thought I could be considered a member with such standing like yourself who I learned from back in the day myself!), but BCG makes it easy, and I felt like I really had to for the flower mill since I was one of the first to get it here... So yeah I will have to do my part for the UMG as well of course!

 

[Shit Snacks]

It arrived five hours ago and I'm so sorry it took me this long to post!

Going to post more photos and details in the UMG thread, but I will preview it by saying here that I already think I prefer the BCG and I'm very glad I ordered the large last month... Don't get me wrong it is very nice and has fancy features, but my first impression after just one herb grinding left me with a lot of potentially personal critique lol

 

[delta hotel]

It arrived five hours ago and I'm so sorry it took me this long to post!

Going to post more photos and details in the UMG thread, but I will preview it by saying here that I already think I prefer the BCG and I'm very glad I ordered the large last month... Don't get me wrong it is very nice and has fancy features, but my first impression after just one herb grinding left me with a lot of potentially personal critique lol

That's a little disappointing, as I went with the UMG over the BCG. Anything will be an improvement over my v1 Kannistor GR8TR. I may still end up with a BCG, but I'm still looking forward to my UMG. Your personal preferences may not be mine, so I'm waiting for your review!

 

[Shit Snacks]

That's a little disappointing, as I went with the UMG over the BCG. Anything will be an improvement over my v1 Kannistor GR8TR. I may still end up with a BCG, but I'm still looking forward to my UMG. Your personal preferences may not be mine, so I'm waiting for your review!

I can assure you it is world's better than the gr8tr at least that's for sure! Yeah personal is the thing, I can see people preferring this for a few reasons as well, I'll try to do more comparison oriented posts here, and keep my post in the UMG thread more objectively subjective... Still just procrastinating lol

 

[Shit Snacks]

Posted first impressions here btw:

United Machining Stainless Steel Grinder

Yep and mine has already been marked as shipped, tracking not updated yet, but it says 2day so should have it by the end of week! Mind sharing some pics when it arrives? I’ll be living vicariously through this thread for a while ha.

fuckcombustion.com

Also felt like this flower mill contest should be posted here so people know about it!

 

[orangehaze]

I can assure you it is world's better than the gr8tr at least that's for sure! Yeah personal is the thing, I can see people preferring this for a few reasons as well, I'll try to do more comparison oriented posts here, and keep my post in the UMG thread more objectively subjective... Still just procrastinating lol

Thanks for the writeup! I was looking forward to it and your detailed review did not disappoint! Unfortunate that the grinder itself is seeming a bit lackluster though, especially for the pricepoint. Based on first impressions, do you prefer the Flower Mill and the texture and consistency from that? Since the Mill is stainless in the areas where it handles the herb, I think that is sufficient so I'm thinking that may be the way to go unless the United grinder starts to win you over

 

[Shit Snacks]

Thanks for the writeup! I was looking forward to it and your detailed review did not disappoint! Unfortunate that the grinder itself is seeming a bit lackluster though, especially for the pricepoint. Based on first impressions, do you prefer the Flower Mill and the texture and consistency from that? Since the Mill is stainless in the areas where it handles the herb, I think that is sufficient so I'm thinking that may be the way to go unless the United grinder starts to win you over

Too soon to tell in that regard, the mill is a totally different style, so really is tricky to compare to it in general honestly... I think the UMG is probably more comparable to the Ripper, though I haven't used that one...

 

[orangehaze]

Too soon to tell in that regard, the mill is a totally different style, so really is tricky to compare to it in general honestly... I think the UMG is probably more comparable to the Ripper, though I haven't used that one...

Gotcha, I'm thinking that too, especially since there hasn't really been a grinder like the Mill before, but since they're expensive I'm definitely trying to choose just one that I'll be happy with.

 

[Shit Snacks]

Gotcha, I'm thinking that too, especially since there hasn't really been a grinder like the Mill before, but since they're expensive I'm definitely trying to choose just one that I'll be happy with.

Yeah I had been tempted by the Lift as well for similar reasons and felt like the Mill was kind of my instead buy since I had mixed feelings about those chopping blades... Still so many other styles I'm curious about!

 

[orangehaze]

Yeah I had been tempted by the Lift as well for similar reasons and felt like the Mill was kind of my instead buy since I had mixed feelings about those chopping blades... Still so many other styles I'm curious about!

Oh yeah the Lift looks quite interesting but I just wasn't convinced that you could hand turn blades like that consistently enough to provide a good grinding experience and from what I've read it's very hit or miss. Looks like the flower mill is the way to go right now

 

[Shit Snacks]

Oh yeah the Lift looks quite interesting but I just wasn't convinced that you could hand turn blades like that consistently enough to provide a good grinding experience and from what I've read it's very hit or miss. Looks like the flower mill is the way to go right now

Yes exactly, happy I went with the Mill instead of Lift... Also remember I only have the regular coarse plate that comes with the premium and the fine plate, I do not have the super fine and ultra fine plates or whatever they are called, so if I use my FM it is specifically to grind something a bit more coarse, I'm sure it can mill herbs finer too!

 

[orangehaze]

Yes exactly, happy I went with the Mill instead of Lift... Also remember I only have the regular coarse plate that comes with the premium and the fine plate, I do not have the super fine and ultra fine plates or whatever they are called, so if I use my FM it is specifically to grind something a bit more coarse, I'm sure it can mill herbs finer too!

Noted, thanks for the reminder! I don't require anything too fine, but I am requesting an additional fine plate like you suggested. Placing my order now! Thanks again for all the detailed gear reviewing you do, it really helped me make this choice

 

[Exsmoker]

Yeah I had been tempted by the Lift as well for similar reasons and felt like the Mill was kind of my instead buy since I had mixed feelings about those chopping blades... Still so many other styles I'm curious about!

I know it’s subjective, but the Lift is my favorite, got it as a gift. I prefer it over my Flower Mill. It’s buttery smooth to turn (important to me) and just has a high-quality feel to it. I have the medium and fine sifting discs but mostly use the medium.

It looks more complicated than it really is, and comes apart easily for cleaning when needed. A negative is the branding, I wish they put a smaller logo on the bottom instead. And it’s expensive, but it is a premium grinder with stainless steel parts and has a lifetime warranty.

The guys who make these are very particular with quality. They got disrupted when COVID 19 hit, had to mandatorily shut down, then lost their manufacturing place. After relocating, they had a machining issue that was causing a tiny cosmetic imperfection that they refused to sell except as a reject. Hopefully, they will soon get back up and running like they were.

 

[Shit Snacks]

I know it’s subjective, but the Lift is my favorite, got it as a gift. I prefer it over my Flower Mill. It’s buttery smooth to turn (important to me) and just has a high-quality feel to it. I have the medium and fine sifting discs but mostly use the medium.

It looks more complicated than it really is, and comes apart easily for cleaning when needed. A negative is the branding, I wish they put a smaller logo on the bottom instead. And it’s expensive, but it is a premium grinder with stainless steel parts and has a lifetime warranty.

The guys who make these are very particular with quality. They got disrupted when COVID 19 hit, had to mandatorily shut down, then lost their manufacturing place. After relocating, they had a machining issue that was causing a tiny cosmetic imperfection that they refused to sell except as a reject. Hopefully, they will soon get back up and running like they were.

View attachment 6739

Oh wow, I didn't know all that background, I remember seeing those cosmetic second models mentioned here, thought about grabbing one, I think maybe they were all gone by the time I discovered them, seems like a fantastic deal! And yeah certainly a great company, it's such a shame they had to change their name, and couldn't call it the clipper... I agree it's a shame the logo on the top is not just the maple leaf centered, with the long name written out on the bottom only... But okay okay, still on the list!

That does look like a pretty nice coarse grind! Seems like nothing left behind in the chopping chamber? You mentioned cleaning, that it is quick and easy, but do you find that it is necessary? I'm really lazy about cleaning and have not cleaned my 2-year-old BCG fine or am I still pretty new FM, I had only in the past cleaned my old SCS and SLX because I had to, however upon discovering how poorly they worked even freshly cleaned, is what led me to shell out for the BCG and so on! No more GrAS please

 

[Exsmoker]

You mentioned cleaning, that it is quick and easy, but do you find that it is necessary?

No, I’ve not cleaned it yet, just switched plates a few times. After removing the plate, there’s not much more to do.

 

[jimdee]

...I had only in the past cleaned my old SCS and SLX because I had to, however upon discovering how poorly they worked even freshly cleaned, is what led me to shell out for the BCG and so on! No more GrAS please

I "upgraded" from an old SCS to an SLX a couple years back and have been a fan of my SLX ever since mainly because how easy it is to keep it clean. After each grind, I use a toothbrush to swab out all the bits left behind and every couple of months or so, I give a quick ISO bath to all the main parts (I don't use the keif collector) and a quick iso-wipe and rinse to the 2 plastic bands.

It seems to do a pretty good job of grinding as far as I can tell--upside down for a fine-grind or not for coarse. I've always felt that if I let debris accumulate on the teeth that trichomes would get stuck/lost on them. @Shit Snacks (and anyone else): if you have a chance to respond, I'd love to hear your thoughts on the quality (or lack thereof) of the SLX grind and on the issue of trichome loss to a dirty grinder.

In any event, I'm looking forward to delivery of a large BCG and all 3 available plates in the next week or so (ordered on 2/13) and am eager to compare its performance in terms of grind and need-to-clean.

All the best,
jimdee

 

[Shit Snacks]

I "upgraded" from an old SCS to an SLX a couple years back and have been a fan of my SLX ever since mainly because how easy it is to keep it clean.

Yeah I actually got a new SCS three-piece to replace the old SCS four-piece I was using as a three-piece first, and I hated it with their new teeth design (just sent that one off to my brother finally many years later and they love it coming from a plastic one lol) So then I got interplanetary development and gr8r to try, but sold them shortly after the SLX arrived when those did not do well for me...

After each grind, I use a toothbrush to swab out all the bits left behind and every couple of months or so, I give a quick ISO bath to all the main parts (I don't use the keif collector) and a quick iso-wipe and rinse to the 2 plastic bands.

So that sounds like way more work than I ever want to put into a grinder, I am a big fan of cleaning as little and infrequently as possible, I cleaned my SLX the first time after a long while when it finally got gummed up, along with my old SCS that I was still using. Just iso soak rinses I think, but it was so long ago now who knows... Seemed to revive them a bit (I may have cleaned the old SCS before going down the rabbit hole of getting more I don't recall) but it still felt like a bit of a struggle to grind for me, doing my usual upside down grinding for consistency, particularly as I had developed a overuse injury in my hands and arms... So around this time I discovered the BCG, like had seen it posted in so many pictures but never really looked into it, and then I started to notice its features like those anti-locking no jam side teeth in the lid, so given my situation I thought it was justifiable to spend the money with the small 420 discount to get one as the SLX became more of a struggle for me to use... So while waiting for my BCG to ship, I was like okay I'll clean it again after a few months from the last time I guess? However even immediately after cleaning it, the very next time grinding, I found it to be a total struggle, with it locking up and jamming on me, feeling impossible to turn, and then so much residual material to poke out with toothpick after... So yeah once my BCG arrived I was in heaven, went back to use the SLX one last time to grind a different strain, was so awful I then put it away except to only use the tray to store grounds sometimes like I did with my old SCS before I got so many more nice grinders now!

It seems to do a pretty good job of grinding as far as I can tell--upside down for a fine-grind or not for coarse.

Haha yeah so as I laid out my full experience above, I liked it very much for a time, also felt a little uneasy about the ceramic coating, other reports here, and my own experience seeing it wear away on my purple SLX2.0 size 2.5 in... I also never once used the kief tray, and yeah a lot of grinding upside down. I could get nice consistent medium fine grind from it, I just had to work for it, and it being so shallow it was just not very ergonomic for me aside from being tough to turn in general.

I've always felt that if I let debris accumulate on the teeth that trichomes would get stuck/lost on them. @Shit Snacks (and anyone else): if you have a chance to respond, I'd love to hear your thoughts on the quality (or lack thereof) of the SLX grind and on the issue of trichome loss to a dirty grinder.

Yeah I wrote a lot on my experience with it above, I may have posted more about it way back when in this thread as well, like when I first got it? Hard to remember now! but yeah I am pretty OCD, especially since I grind upside down, about using a toothpick to poke out herbs that stay in the grinding chamber, poking them off the teeth or sides if I can, I mean especially the sides that is most important, I do what I can for the teeth but sometimes it gets pretty tedious and sometimes its really caked on dense moist stuff, I can also use my fingers a bit, and then I do one final gentle clacking on the table, creating a little pile of all those bits that I will then brush into the grinding chamber with the rest (filtering out any stems of course, which I do before loading the grinder with nugs, as I use small nugs carefully placed between the teeth always)

Unfortunately I don't have much to add to your specific question about trichrome preservation, I don't have any tools to really see them myself and judge, and like any grinder feels like it is losing so much to its teeth and walls every time you grind, like when you just look at the nug you see how pretty it is and then it feels like oh I just destroyed it LOL that is why sometimes I like to vape whole nugs with some of my vapes that can do this well, though it still requires hand breaking them afterwards and in the end you are left with a similar experience ultimately, but it is fun to do and mix things up, especially with fresh nugs! But yeah a lot of us have moved on from filtering kief because why not have everything in the bowls you are vaping when you are vaping them? So yeah when you make that move, it is tough to realize how much you might be losing elsewhere, I thought about that more when I was testing the flower mill since it grinds so differently, and something like the lift innovations is specifically designed to help preserve trichromes?? but honestly I have no idea really, no way to actually tell myself regardless! But it is an interesting discussion, and something that I think keeps me away from wanting to try an electric grinder??

Anyway in regard to the SLX, and the quality of its grind, I really don't know anymore, like I said I did like it for a time, particularly I liked the grind I was able to get from it, however it became far too much work to achieve that, much less effort in the BCG and the grind is perhaps even better... I really don't know about the trichrome thing though, I guess that is a selling point of the SLX and its ceramic coating, but now the ceramic coating scares me maybe more than it appealed to me then? Again I was focused on how much it kept locking up on me, and the BCG totally resolved that issue for me!

In any event, I'm looking forward to delivery of a large BCG and all 3 available plates in the next week or so (ordered on 2/13) and am eager to compare its performance in terms of grind and need-to-clean.

All the best,
jimdee

Nice! I think you are really going to like it a lot, if you couldn't tell based on everything I wrote above haha Looking forward to your thoughts on it... I think I ordered soon after you, maybe mine will be here before I know it as well!

 

[Moses Baca]

In any event, I'm looking forward to delivery of a large BCG and all 3 available plates in the next week or so (ordered on 2/13) and am eager to compare its performance in terms of grind and need-to-clean.

All the best,
jimdee

I ordered a large on 2/7. Hopefully we'll both receive them next week. I'm trying to be patient as I check my order status daily.

 

[Kinick23]

I’m calling this the trifecta haha .. just got the UM in the mail today but haven’t tried yet, gonna pick up some fresh herb later and take it for a spin.. more to come!

 

[orangehaze]

I’m calling this the trifecta haha .. just got the UM in the mail today but haven’t tried yet, gonna pick up some fresh herb later and take it for a spin.. more to come!

Awesome!! Yeah the bcg looks amazing and everyone loves it, but I decided to go with the mill because if I'm spending that much on a grinder, I want the chopping area to at least be stainless, so if bcg ever does that then I'll get one. Hope to hear which one you think is the champion of grinders once you try out the united machining one!

 

[havock69]

It arrived five hours ago and I'm so sorry it took me this long to post!

Going to post more photos and details in the UMG thread, but I will preview it by saying here that I already think I prefer the BCG and I'm very glad I ordered the large last month... Don't get me wrong it is very nice and has fancy features, but my first impression after just one herb grinding left me with a lot of potentially personal critique lol

I'm torn between the BCG and the FM. Any advice?

 

[Shit Snacks]

I'm torn between the BCG and the FM. Any advice?

It really depends what you're looking for, what your needs are, because they are so different, which versions plates etc.?