Everything You Need to Know About Herbal Grinders
An herbal grinder is a handy tool that makes it easy to prepare your dry herb for smoking, vaping, or making edibles. Most grinders are circular devices that fit in the palm of your hand, although there are other styles available, such as our ultra-portable Grinder Card. Grinders save you the time, hassle, and mess that comes with breaking up your smoking material by hand.
Herb Grinding 101
Here’s a quick tutorial on how to properly use a traditional circular grinder:
- If necessary, break up your smoking material into small chunks by hand.
- Open the top lid of your grinder, and push the chunks of smoking material into the grinder’s teeth.
- Push the lid back on.
- Twist the lid back and forth. You’ll feel resistance at first, and then the rotations will become smoother as the smoking material is ground.
- Remove the lid of the herbal grinder to reveal your newly ground herb, or if your grinder has a chamber below the teeth level, unscrew the grinder’s middle level where you’ll find ground smoking material in the chamber below.
How to Use a Grinder Card
A grinder card fits right in your wallet, and it’s the perfect companion to a one-hitter. A grinder card works similarly to a cheese grater—simply hold the card over a tray or other receptacle, and then rub the smoking material briskly against the card. That’s it!
What Is a Pollen Catcher?
Some grinders have a third (or even fourth) section called a pollen catcher. This section of an herbal grinder can be identified by a mesh screen with very tiny holes. After grinding, the ground smoking material falls into the chamber below where you can leave it until you’re ready to use it. Over time, the fine ‘pollen’ particles naturally fall through the mesh into a chamber below.
Pro tip: If you want to extract more pollen faster, you can place a coin in the chamber above. When you move the grinder around, the coin knocks pollen off the dry herb to the chamber below.
Once your herbal grinder has accumulated a good amount of pollen, the highly concentrated material can be used in a number of ways. Some smokers like to use a pollen press to turn the pollen into dense pucks that can be smoked. Others like to sprinkle the powder on top of their usual smoking material to increase its potency.
Cleaning Your Grinder
Over time, it’s normal for some herbal residue to accumulate on your grinder. Fortunately, cleaning it is a breeze. You may be able to remove the residue just by scraping it with an old toothbrush.
However, if you want to restore your herbal grinder to like-new condition, you may want to use a pipe cleaner or a mixture of salt and rubbing alcohol as a cleaning solution. Be sure to let your grinder air dry before using it again.
Do You Really Need a Grinder?
You may be wondering if you actually need a grinder. After all, hands or scissors get the job done, right? While it’s true that you can break up your smoking material manually, there are some drawbacks aside from the obvious extra labor and time spent.
Properly ground herbs burn more evenly, allowing you to enjoy a smoother smoking experience. An herbal grinder gives you a finer, more consistent finished product. Ground herbs are especially useful if you’re rolling your own cigarettes, as they burn more slowly and evenly. Have you ever had a pre-rolled cigarette burn faster on one side? A grinder helps to prevent that.
Additionally, as you touch the smoking material while breaking it up by hand, the fine pollen sticks to your fingers. Not only does the residue leave your hands sticky and smelly, but you’re missing out on smoking the most potent part of the plant.
Order Quality Grinders Today
If you’re looking for the ultimate in convenience, you simply can’t beat our wallet-friendly Grinder Card. Our 2” All-in-One Smoking Kit and our 3” All-in-One Smoking Kit are also fantastic choices, as they include everything you need to smoke on the go, including a built-in herbal grinder.
Want to know more about our grinders? Our helpful experts are more than happy to answer any questions you might have. Contact us now for assistance with your purchase, or simply place your order online now.
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