A Closer Look At Grinders

A while back, we posted a blog on “Common Cannabis Accessories” that highlighted some of the countless ancillary cannabis accessories that exist to enhance your experience. We thought now would be a good time to circle back and dig just a little bit deeper into a few of them!

First up – grinders.

What is a grinder?

For those that may be unfamiliar, a grinder used to break up cannabis into smaller pieces for smoother-hitting bowls and/or for wrapping in joints/blunts. Of course, this can all be done by hand (we’ve all done it this way plenty of times!), but grinders speed up the process and provide additional benefits.

The most notable benefit is a kief collector. This refers to the bottom chamber that gathers all the potent dried resin glands as they fall off the plant material during grinding. This kief can be collected and placed on top of your bowl or stored for later use (for those adventurous souls, look up caviar joints).

How to use a grinder

Fortunately, using a grinder is not very complex. Traditionally they come in two or four pieces.

With a two-piece grinder, you simply place the flower in between the two pieces and grind until desired.

With a four-piece grinder, you place the flower in between the two top pieces and grind until the flower has fallen through to the middle section. Then the middle section is opened to expose the flower, which can then be emptied out for use. As noted above, the bottom section is the kief collector, which can be used as desired either with your bowl or later on. It is important to note that the kief should be collected using a piece of paper or another scraping tool so as to not contaminate it with the oils and other particles from your hands.

How to clean a grinder

Like everything else, grinders get dirty. Oftentimes, it is because over time kief resin has built up making it difficult to open the grinder.

Similar to cleaning a pipe (click here to check out that video!), grinders can be cleaned using isopropyl alcohol to help get rid of the stickiness). You can also use a toothbrush to knock of the kief

If your grinder is extra dirty or sticky, freezing it before cleaning may help get it back looking like new!