The Benefits of Using a Grinder

Alright, so I usually smoke out of pipes/bongs and like to pack bowls in a loose manner in order to burn all of the product efficiently. I like to put in a decent bud or 2 but nothing that will get lost in burning during passing.

My question is, how much more efficient is using a grinder before packing a bowl than not? All the most experienced smokers I know use one, but they don't ever explain why. Like I say, I'm poor and like to get the most out of what I buy and thinking that even a mini grinder may be a good investment.

Keif is always a nice present. It can make your stash go longer to, at least for me it does. It breaks it down into small enough parts that you can use less then you would if you broke it up by finger. No sticky fingers either.

Consistency of ground herb size is why I like a grinder. Plus the no sticky fingers thing. My Mendo Mulcher has an inner screen and "pollen" catch under that. I really don't get that much though. But it's a nice 3" diameter and that is a plus.

ThatGuy113 said:

Keif is always a nice present. It can make your stash go longer to, at least for me it does. It breaks it down into small enough parts that you can use less then you would if you broke it up by finger. No sticky fingers either.

Click to expand...

i agree on all aspects.. firstly, it will definitely make you bud go much further than just throwing a hole bud into your bowl or w/e by far.. a nice sized bud in a grinder will break up into a larger amount then if one were to not use a grinder ime..
and the kief thing is just icing on the top of the cake as well.. nothing better then either running out of bud and unscrewing your grinder to find a nice bunch of kief sitting there waiting for you to enjoy, or just sprinkling some on top of your bud whenever the feeling hits..

i've been smoking for 20 years or so, and only in the last 5 or so have i been using a grinder, and for the life of me, i don't know what i ever did without one for so long up till that point.. imo, the grinder has to be one of the best stoner inventions in the last decade or so hands down..

Grinder is necessary for my sessions these days. Not just the regular two part grinder. The ones mentioned where it grinds, falls through little holes onto a screen that catch the bud and then a lil chamber below that for keif catching. It gets the full potential out of your bud...

I have a 3 chamber grinder like kmksrh21 and love to press a tiny ball of hash every once in a while

A grinder? What? Nah man I don't use grinders. Grinders are a lazy man's tool, do you think that back 100 years ago they had Grinders? My fingernails and the stems are my grinders I deveoloped a perfect method to grind weed easily, just use your Fingernails and rub the bud off against the stem it works like a charm every time. If I want a really killer, tight packed joint I might use a grinder so I can grind it as fine as I can get it but other than that I always break mine down manually.

kief is the biggest thing for me, its just as easy to cut up a bud with scissors. but having that stash spot in the bottom is always a bonus when the bag runs low.

From secondary school physics (if i remember correctly) - reactions (including that of burning) happen faster when the matter has a larger surface area. A grinder maximizes the surface area by cutting up the bud and fluffing it out aswell, minimizing wasted material which is not burned. You also keep all the loose trichs contained within the grinder for use later, whereas with the finger method you loose stuff on your fingers, on the scissors, table etc.
I cant go without a grinder nowadays, nothing wrong with being lazy heaveykush!

HeaveyKush said:

A grinder? What? Nah man I don't use grinders. Grinders are a lazy man's tool, do you think that back 100 years ago they had Grinders? My fingernails and the stems are my grinders I deveoloped a perfect method to grind weed easily, just use your Fingernails and rub the bud off against the stem it works like a charm every time. If I want a really killer, tight packed joint I might use a grinder so I can grind it as fine as I can get it but other than that I always break mine down manually.

Click to expand...

And no extra keif for you. I promise you your weed will go a lot longer if you use a grinder. Efficiency doesn't relate to laziness.

HeaveyKush said:

A grinder? What? Nah man I don't use grinders. Grinders are a lazy man's tool, do you think that back 100 years ago they had Grinders?

Click to expand...

Yes. Maybe not your 4 pice kief catching variety, but yes, they had forms of grinders. In fact they had them thousands of years ago.
But yes, a grinder is good for lazy people, that's why i love mine, twisty twist job done.

Seems like everyone here loves their grinders.

I HATE mine and I've had it for years. I can be persise too... 6 years and 3 months. Yes that's odd I know but my first day of college a flyer for a local 'head shop' got left on my windshield for 40% so I went and bought the grinder plus other stuff.

Anyways, from the moment I got it I never didn't like it. I felt like you were doing something unnatural and that metal and nasties were getting in my smoke. My friends used it, and those who had their own scaled me for not using mine. (Evident from my keif dish always being empty.) My wife uses it, and I tell her my reasoning for not - but it doesn't bother her. She doesn't like big nugs in the bowl like you folks mention. Keif's not a reason for her using it, when she does actually medicate she's not inclined or ambitious enough to open that tray.

Regarding me feeling that metal and other what not gets in. I swear it happens, I should look under a loupe. I'd like to be wrong though. I don't use a cheap grinder either.

But yeah down with grinders for me.

I use a grinder because it keeps my hands clean.... and......whatever is on my hands doesnt get on my weed

I only paid for a grinder once... and I can have 5 grams of nugget ready to smoke with a few turns...

also.... i hate breaking up weed... it takes time I dont like to spend, and gives me like carpal tunnel.

Up with the grinders down with the fingers haha

I use a grinder because its easier to break up the weed than with my fingers. Its more consistent so I dont get lumps in my joints.


I put a nickel on top of my keif screen and shake the grinder for about a minute before I open the grinder to get the weed out. It helps with the keif collection.

Sailor Jerry said:

I use a grinder because its easier to break up the weed than with my fingers. Its more consistent so I dont get lumps in my joints.


I put a nickel on top of my keif screen and shake the grinder for about a minute before I open the grinder to get the weed out. It helps with the keif collection.

Click to expand...

I simply use a clean paint brush..... it's cleaner...


who knows where that nickle has been...

That nickel idea is a good one. I had never thought about that. Thanks for the tip

Personally, i will enjoy kief if there happens to be keif in the grinder (i removed the screen years ago) but i do not really see the point in intentionally removing the trichs from the bud, it's just gonna compromise the quality of the smoke.

That's why you add it on top. Seems to get me more high

So you've removed the trichomes from the flower, and then just add it back in again afterwards? Certainly adding a whole bunch of them to a joint will get you higher, but in order to have that amount you would have removed it from other joints, it all evens out. It all evens out.