Why Do You Need A Grinder For Weed?

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Now that you have grown, dried, and cured your own weed, or maybe just bought some from your local source, you need to smoke it. When you go to smoke your pot, of course, you cannot just take a whole bud and put it in your pipe, bong, or vaporizer, and you obviously cannot roll up a whole bud in rolling papers either.

You have to grind up your weed first before you can smoke it, and yes, this goes for making edibles too.

You really cannot do much with your pot unless you grind it up, and of course, this is where the grinder comes into play. So, why do you need a grinder for weed?

Well, the reason you need a grinder is because for one, it is just the fastest and easiest way to get the job done. Moreover, THC, the stuff that makes you feel good, will stick to your fingers, and is therefore wasteful. This does not really happen with a grinder, making it the best tool to use for grinding up your flower.

If you need some help finding a really good grinder, checkout our massive buyers guide here.

Contents

Why Do You Need A Grinder?

metal grinder for cannabis

Realistically speaking, there are a few different reasons why you want to use a grinder to break down your weed into smaller pieces, or sometimes into powder even. A grinder can definitely come in quite handy for a number of reasons.

1. It Is Fast & Easy

The number one reason why you need a grinder to break down your weed is because it is by far the fastest and easiest way to get the job done.

Simply pop a few buds of your favorite flower into the grinder, give it a few rotations in each direction, and your weed is good to go, ready to be rolled, smoked in a pipe, vaporized, or turned into edibles.

2. It Produces The Best Results

Simply put, using a grinder for your weed produces better results than any other method of breaking it down.

When you use a grinder, you get evenly broken down weed that is more or less powder.

You don’t end up with smaller or larger chunks, like you would with other methods. All of your weed comes out uniformly out of a grinder.

3. THC Does Not Stick To Them

Another reason why you need to use a grinder for your weed is because THC does not stick to them, at least not very much.

When you use your fingers, all of that THC is sticking to your fingers. That powder, those sticky crystals, those are what gets you high, and a grinder preserves the largest quantity of them.

Many other break down methods will cause the loss of THC, and therefore a loss of both money and overall potency.

4. You Cannot Work With Unground Weed

Well, perhaps one of the main reasons why you need a grinder for your weed is because you can smoke it, or work with it in any way, if it is not broken down.

Putting whole buds, even small ones, in a pipe or bong will end up clogging them to the point where half of the nugs need to be removed.

Moreover, it also will not smoke very well, as larger buds, even smaller ones, are not going to burn evenly, and therefore will not provide you with the results you are expecting.

Weed needs to be broken down to a fine powder, or nearly so, in order to roll, smoke, vaporize, or work with it in any way.

5. Collecting The Kief

The other reason why you want to use a grinder is because most of them come with a crystal catcher. People often refer to the crystals, the really strong THC components, as kief.

Many people like to separate this kief or crystal from the main flower part, as it is much stronger.

Most people will either smoke it separately or a very strong kick, or use it to make hash or edibles. Investing in a grinder with a kief catcher is definitely worth it.


4 Alternatives To The Grinder

grinder alternatives

There are some alternatives to using a grinder, in case you do not have one on hand. Keep in mind that a good old weed or herb grinder is the best option by far, but there are some decent second choices you can fall back on.

1. Scissors

Many people use scissors to break down their weed, which is fine. Just be sure that you put the weed in a small bowl and chop it up with the scissors, preferably without touching the weed with your fingers.

Make sure that the scissors are sharp and clean. (we have covered a helpful article on trimming scissors, you can check it out here)

2. Coin & Pill Bottle

A really interesting way of breaking down weed is to use a pill bottle and a coin. A nickel tends to work best for this, but any heavier coin will do fine.

Take a few buds of your pot, but it in the pill bottle, add the coin, close the lid, and shake, shake, shake. The coin will pulverize the weed into a fine powder that is ready to use.

3. Coffee Grinder

Weed aficionados and people who work with it a lot will often use a coffee grinder to get the job done.

Yeah, they can be a bit expensive, but they do certainly work well.

4. Knife & Cutting Board

If you have a good meat cutting knife, or a veggie knife, along with a cutting board and decent knife skills, you can always chop your weed up in the same way you would use a knife and cutting board to chop herbs like parsley or oregano.


**NO FINGERS!!**

no fingers

Something that is indeed very important to stress is that you should not be using your fingers to grind weed whenever possible. Yes, it does work to produce a decent end result, but for one, it takes a very long time and it is cumbersome.

Second, and more importantly, those THC crystals which get you high end up sticking to your fingers. It is just very wasteful and should be avoided whenever possible.


Plastic vs Metal Grinders

red plastic weed grinder

You will notice that most marijuana grinders you can buy are made of either metal or plastic. Metal grinders usually have really sharp teeth, they stay sharp for a long time, and they grinders themselves are very durable. There is also the fact that metal grinders are easy to clean.

However, a metal grinder will cost you much more than a plastic one. Plastic grinders are fine for occasional use, but they break easily, their teeth snap and wear down, and they just don’t last for very long.

They are also not very easy to clean. The best option to go with hands down is the metal variety.


How To Clean A Grinder

Remember guys, your grinder will get clogged up eventually. Those sticky THC crystals get stuck in the ridges, the corners, and anywhere else they touch.

If you do not regularly clean your grinder, you might one day realize that it is totally stuck shut, and that is a pain to deal with, plus it makes them really hard to turn and to use in general.

Let’s quickly talk about how to clean your grinder;

  1. Take the grinder apart and stick it in the freezer for about 30 minutes. This will harden all of the stuck on materials, making them less sticky, and therefore easier to remove.
  2. You can use a find paint brush or toothbrush to clean away any and all residue that will come off.
  3. Now, for metal grinders, if the plant matter is really stuck on, a brush won’t do the trick. Get yourself some isopropyl alcohol and put the grinder in a bag or bowl with enough of the liquid to cover it. The plant matter should come loose in a few minutes, and you can then brush or wash it off.
  4. Be sure to wash the grinder thoroughly after, because you definitely do not want to end up smoking rubbing alcohol. Also be sure to dry it before use, or else the weed will get wet and stick immediately.
  5. If you have a high quality plastic grinder, you cannot use rubbing alcohol on them, as you will more or less disintegrate them. For these, if it is a high quality model, you can boil it in water, and this should remove most of the residue. Plastic grinders are very cheap and can be very hard to clean, so if you have a super sticky plastic grinder, and boiling, brushing, and scraping still does not do the trick, you might just need a new grinder, probably a metal one this time around.

We have reviewed our 10 favorite rolling papers, you can see our picks here.

Conclusion

There you have it folks. If you are an avid smoker or maker of edibles, you need a grinder to quickly break down your weed into a fine powder that can be used for a variety of purposes.

When it comes down to it, there is really nothing better than a good old grinder.

 

Image Credit:

Photo 1: Wiki Commons

Photo 2: Wiki Commons

Fabian

My passion for the sticky icky started nearly a decade ago, and it all began when I first laid my eyes on the beauty that is the marijuana plant.

I cover all aspects of growing from equipment recommendations to plant health/care tips to help both new and experienced growers.