What is a Weed Grinder? – HØJ
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What is a Weed Grinder?

Estimated 5-minute read

 Cannabis enthusiasts have used grinders to break down thick buds into small, smokable particles since the 1960s.

You might have a lot of questions about grinders if you are entering the new world of cannabis. At nearly any dispensary or head shop, you can purchase grinders, or you can order one online from a number of retail sites. They can be as basic as a grinding card, or a more sophisticated and effective multi-chamber weed grinder. 

What is a Weed Grinder?

As a grinder is a basic device you use to chop weed up into tiny pieces for hitting ultra smooth bowls or for packaging rolling papers and blunt wraps. If you don't have a grinder, there are a variety of ways to grind cannabis, but grinders help the process of preparing your weed to be easier and provide advantages such as a chamber exclusively for kief.

A kief catcher refers to the lower chamber under the screen that in the grinding process gathers all the powerful crystal kief knocked off the buds. You can either use it later to press your own hash or cook edibles, or you can scoop the kief out and sprinkle it on top of your bowl to boost the punch. 

You can find the grinding chamber above the screen with "teeth", which are the blades that do all the work. The grinder lid attaches to this piece. Normally metal grinders have a magnet to help keep things safe while you grind.

What is a Weed Grinder Used For?

There are two main reasons why you would want to grind your weed. First of all to get an even, strong burn in a joint, blunt, or cup, and subsequently heat as much of the trichomes as possible uniformly. Therefore, you are extracting as many benefits as possible from the content of the cannabis plant.

Why are trichomes important? Trichomes contain the highest concentrations of cannabinoids such as THC and CBD, and terpenes such as myrcene and limonene. These are the tiny crystals that condition the nature of the results in your body,  how frosty the leaves look, aroma, and also determine the effects of your strain and its quality.

It will actually make it much simpler to use a grinder to ground up your cannabis before smoking or vaping it. You will also find that it will be simple to carry as you can use it as a form of storage, leaving the product inside. This way, it is convenient to consume later when you feel like doing it.

Mainly, ground marijuana is less harsh, and it is more consistent. Ground cannabis will smoke easily and steadily, unlike entire buds, whose shape can alter the fluidity of the smoke produced. This includes being able to roll solid, clean joints that light up appropriately when it comes to this method of consumption.

In addition, grinding your herb will limit interactions with your hands prior to use. This will avoid harming the trichomes and the precious cannabinoids that they withhold. Additionally, a grinder will preserve the consistency and potency of your buds. A good grinder will let you gather those trichomes for later enjoyment instead of losing them.

In summary, grinders are used for storing ground up weed, protecting trichomes, catching kief, and breaking up your buds.

Do You Need a Grinder for Weed?

Obviously, when you roll a joint or a blunt, you need something to break up the flower. Otherwise, you'd try to cram an entire bud into a tiny piece of paper that will certainly not fit. But there is plenty of space for a bowl or bong to just plop a nug of herb in and smoke without effort or additional time. So, why do you need a grinder if it somehow creates an additional step?

Using a grinder not only allows for better hits when you smoke out of a pipe, but it also prevents your bowl from being overloaded with big ash pods.  When you ground up your cannabis finely, it turns into thinner ash that can be wiped out quickly once you are done smoking. The piece will likely be blocked by big, unground buds. So break up your bud, whether you are smoking out of a pipe, cigar, blunt, vaporizer, or even an improvised apple bong.

Part of smoking is breaking up your buds, simply as that. Why would you waste product and money to skip an essential step?

There's a fair chance you have a favorite technique to do so if you consider yourself an experienced stoner. Over the years, technology has taken the market to the next level, loading the aisles of head shops and online shops with two to three, and now four chamber grinders.

How you grind your raw cannabis is a personal preference and no one should say a thing about what you feel comfortable with. You must pay attention, however, to what your grinder is made of. The majority are made of wood, plastic, or aluminum, which are not the most durable materials you can find. We are not talking about getting a grinder made of gold and diamonds, but you can get a durable, reliable, and high-quality tool by putting a little extra cash into a stainless steel, glass, or ceramic grinder. See this as investment rather than a big spending as you won’t need to buy another one in a long time.

Grinding Weed vs Not Grinding Weed

First and the most important reason, you don't get the same high. The reason you grind is that you burn more of your pot because of the increased surface area, since this is a key factor when you try to burn anything. Just as a thick wood log will burn very slowly, very hot, and  with little smoke in a campfire, so will that 2 inches long nug that you just packed into your bowl. 

As we have stated before, a grinder shreds the flower into tiny pieces and breaks them down, allowing all the cannabis particles to burn completely when they are smoked. In this sense, this tool guarantees a slow-burning joint to extend the experience a little longer. Also, a grinder is faster to ground up weed, because you only need 20 or 30 seconds to be done. Therefore, you are saving precious time unlike other methods that require more patience.

Furthermore, you are maintaining your bud’s potency since it is the best way of not altering the cannabinoids inside the trichomes. Lastly, grinders are useful to catch kief, which you really don’t want to throw away, so learn the good results you can get from taking full advantage of pollen. 

The less you grind, the less cannabinoids you will have, and as a consequence, you won't experience the potent effects of your bud. Moreover, you will be burning your throat badly and letting in smoke way too harsh for your lungs.

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