What are Herb/Weed Grinders?
Herb grinders, aka weed grinders, do exactly as they say, they grind up the herb into a vaporizer-friendly consistency. This is necessary since large nugs won’t fit into most vaporizers and even if they could, they won’t get vaporized completely. Grinders can be either manual or electric, each of which has their pros and cons that we’ll get into later. However, I can tell you now that the grinder is the most important accessory to any vaporizer because you can’t use the vaporizer without it. So, now that you know that, let’s take a closer look at herb grinders.
Why Is It Important To Use a Good Grinder?
A grinder will break down the herb and give it a greater surface area so that it better fills the oven of the vaporizer. This allows the oven to evenly heat the herb, which improves the flavor and vapor production of the herb. Thoroughly ground herb also provides a better high because the terpenes and cannabinoids present in the herb are released more efficiently. Well ground herb also improves the airflow of the vaporizer and makes it easier to access the vapor because the heated air can pass through the ground-up herb more easily.
Manual VS Electric Grinders
Manual or electric is the main concern here since they are the two types of weed grinders from which to choose . Manual grinders require some elbow grease of course, but they are pretty easy to use and they have a few advantages:
- You never have to worry if they are charged or not
- They include their own receptacle to catch and distribute the ground herb
- The good ones rarely, if ever, need cleaning
- Most of them include kief catchers to collect some of the most potent parts of the herb
- They are more portable-friendly than electric grinders
Electric grinders are not as popular as manual grinders since they don’t perform as many of the same functions as manual grinders do. Plus they are more high-maintenance since they need to be cleaned and charged regularly. Still, they do have a few advantages over manual grinders:
- Can be easily used by anyone
- It’s a little easier to calibrate the consistency of the grind
Overall, manual grinders are the way to go, even for newbie vapers. Electric grinders should only be used by people who have trouble using manual grinders.
Glossary
- Dry herb vaporizer – A device that heats up—but does not burn—weed to create a vapor that is inhaled by the user.
- Draw resistance – The amount of effort required to inhale from the mouthpiece of a vaporizer. Low draw resistance requires very little effort on the part of the user while high draw resistance means the user has to inhale harder.
- Teeth – In manual grinders, the teeth are what do the grinding. They can be diamond or trapezoid-shaped and they come in numbers that range between twenty and thirty.
- Chambers – These are the number of pieces that constitute a manual grinder. The minimum number of chambers is two and the maximum is four.
- Kief – Very fine particulates on the surface of the cannabis plant. They have a higher concentration of THC than the rest of the plant.
