Disclaimer:
I don't necessarily have a clue what I'm talking about here. These are just my impressions, and my explanations may be horribly wrong. But they may be right. I don't know.
After yesterday's little experiment, I think I have a better idea of how each of my 4-piece SCShredders performs, and possibly why. Also, the dense herbs I have right now seem to be good for comparing grinders, and I'm beginning to feel like all these observations may change if I was using different herbs.
Here's how I rank them, and why:
1. Small 4-piece
- Fluffy, consistently sized grounds.
- Comfortable to use.
- Very deep hopper. (I love this feature.)
- Medium-fine grind, even without grinding upside down.
- Teeth are evenly spaced, which makes it a little harder to fit nugs but also seems to be at least partly responsible for the consistent size of the grounds.
- Fairly consistently sized smaller holes also seem to help with consistent size of ground herbs.
- I would like a slightly finer screen.
- This grinder is almost the perfect size for me, regarding both comfort and capacity. (I'm not sure what the capacity is; probably well over a gram.)
2. Large 4-piece
- Good leverage.
- Turns very smoothly when there's no gunk.
- Just a little too big to feel comfortable in my hands while using.
- Bigger grounds make it through the holes sometimes. Grounds are of very inconsistent size, at least when grinding only half a gram. (I intend to put a gram and a half through it soon, to see if that changes anything.)
- I would like a slightly finer screen.
- Probably best for grinding 2-3 g.
3. Mini 4-piece
- Holes are much bigger than the other two sizes. This seems to allow chunks to get through (or get stuck in the large holes).
- Consequently, it's probably best to grind upside down a little bit.
- Would make a phenomenal portable grinder.
- The screen is probably a little too fine.
- Kind of difficult to engage the threads sometimes (because of the small diameter, not the thread quality).
- Maximum capacity is probably about half a gram.
Having slept on it, then looked at the ground herbs again, I have to say I prefer the results of the small big-time. It's not even close.
I feel like the small provides a finer and more consistent grind due to both the size of the holes and the tooth arrangement. It has smaller, more consistently sized holes than both the large and the mini, and there are also no empty spaces for herbs to be pushed around instead of being ground.
A picture to compare teeth and holes.
Here's a picture of the herbs I have right now.
