Testing and Reviewing the Santa Cruz Shredder

One of the most essential smoking accessories smokers can have in their Stoner Kit is a weed grinder, producer of fluffy ground bud ready to load up into your favorite pre-rolled cone, blunt, bowl, or dry vape.

Preparing bud with your own two hands is a classic way to breakdown flower for a sesh, but the trichomes leave you with sticky fingers and large particles, while fine for bongs, pipes and blunts, could leave you wanting. But hey, for those who don’t mind the sticky icky underneath their fingernail, you do your thing, G!

But when packing or rolling, particle consistency helps prevent hot spots in joints and blunts, which can lead to running and canoeing. Consistency also makes packing and rolling easier while producing more surface area, leading to bigger hits.

That’s why for decades upon decades, one specific grinding mechanism ruled the accessories industry: sharp-toothed aluminum grinders.

After putting Weed Grinders under the Spotlight, diving deep into the wide range of consumer grinders on the market, we pinpointed 3 specific grinding mechanisms to test their functionality and performance: the Flower Mill herb mill, the Stache Grynder with its short, round-teeth, and the classic sharp, tall teeth grinder, for which we used the Santa Cruz Shredder as a proxy for the sharp teeth grinders on the market.

The Santa Cruz Shredder, one of the most popular and storied grinders on the market, uses tall, sharp teeth to shred full buds down to a fine particle size. While time tested and the standard for a reason, DaySavers set out to test how these long-used cannabis grinder function and perform over time, measuring grind time, resistance met, torque required to grind, particle consistency, and buildup of kief and flower on the grinder.

For this test, we partnered with Washington cannabis producer, and dear friend of DaySavers, ZoZ, to run a full ounce of some of their finest sticky icky through the Sata Cruz Shredder.

So, without any more delay, let’s take a look at what the Santa Cruz Shredder is, how it functions, and how it performed grinding a full ounce of bud through 28 1-gram batches. Let’s get after it, y’all!

What is a Santa Cruz Shredder Grinder?

While standard in its use of larger, thicker teeth as the grinding mechanism, the Santa Cruz uses its own patented version: angular, eight-surface shredding teeth (that look square), varied particle hole layout featuring oblong and rounded triangles openings, and top chamber internal construction.

A small ground of friends developed the Santa Cruz Shredder with the expertise of a NASA engineer while reflecting the vibrant culture of Santa Cruz, California. Infusing their love for Santa Cruz’s surf and skate culture into their brand ethos, the SCS crew created a grinder that quickly became a cultural phenomenon embraced by surfers, skaters, and cannabis enthusiast alike.

They state that traditional sharp teeth lead to dulling and can potentially leave flakes of aluminum in your cannabis; yikes! But their patented radial teeth too are pretty sharp but do not dull over time and will never release burrs or flakes of aluminum. The teeth, in the shape of a square with two sides bowed inward, are designed to cut multiple times during rotations to produce consistent, fluffy ground flower.

Their line of grinders come in anodized aluminum and hemp plastic versions, with both lines carrying 2-, 3- and 4-piece grinders, as well as special edition grinders featuring custom graphics and brand collabs, while their large Jumbo Grinders come only in aluminum.

The simple yet effective 2-piece grinder comes with a lid and base that make up the singular chamber in the grinder, the grinding chamber.

The 3-piece grinder incorporates a ground flower chamber, while the 4-piece includes an additional kief screen, creating a third chamber that stores kief separated from the flower during the grinding process.

Aluminum teeth grinders are more than just a staple, they’re the standard, and Santa Cruz Shredder established their credibility within the cannabis market through their multi-surface teeth that eliminate metal flaking while encouraging preservation of the flower’s terpenes, fly design, and a brand message that resonates with consumers.

The Santa Cruz Shredder Grinder

With the extensive history of teeth grinders in the cannabis market, Santa Cruz Shredder hit the market in 2007 and become one of the most popular and well-known brands on the market. The Shredder also features a proprietary thread pattern design that reduces binding and seizing when interlocking piece, a major downfall of many grinders. The magnified center tooth uses Neodymium Diametrically Magnetized Cylindrical Rare Earth Magnets (not a mouthful at all) to connect to the lid and are extremely effective.

Santa Cruz Shredders are scratch resistant, use superior T304 Micronic Precision Woven Non-Fraying Stainless Steel Screens, are ultrasonically cleansed following manufacturing to remove any and all contaminants, and features a “knurled” grip that provides improved hand and finger grip compared to most budget grinders.

Over their nearly 20 years on the market, they have done more than innovate, they’ve collaborated with some OGs of music and cannabis, including Wiz Khalifa, Pink Dolphin, Frostiez, and Cookies.

The 2-piece Santa Cruz Shredder herb grinder comes in small, medium, large, and jumbo sizes with multiple designs and custom imagery and branding on their collaborative grinders.

The 3-piece grinder also comes in small, medium, large, and jumbo and features a deep ground flower chamber that holds a solid amount of bud no matter which size grinder you choose. The 4-piece grinder comes in the same sizes as the 2 and 3 pieces but includes a kief screen at the bottom of the ground flower chamber to capture loose kief produced during the grinding process. Due to this screen, the depth of the ground flower chamber isn’t as deep as the 3-piece.

Their hemp grinders are made from natural hemp, are eco-friendly, and are extremely durable, coming in multiple colors and styles, including lids with custom graphic stickers on. Unique to their hemp grinders is the use of a singular size throughout, which we would peg as a medium sized grinder.

3- and 4-piece grinders have the same build structure as the aluminum grinders, with the 3-piece including a deeper ground flower chamber and the 4-piece grinder employing a unique hard hemp kief screen instead of a metal mesh screen. While Santa Cruz Shredder does not carry grinders beyond 4 pieces, additional pieces 4 are less necessary, most often creating additional chambers for convenience, like a rotary lid that doubles as an extra stash spot of carrying bud.

Of the 3 brands of grinders that we compared, including the Santa Cruz Shredder, Stache, and Flower Mill, SCS and Stache carried hemp options while Flower Mill offers steel in addition to aluminum options.

Operating the Santa Cruz Shredder Grinder

Like nearly all grinders on the market, the Santa Cruz Shredder uses a rotary lid to rotate the top teeth between the teeth on the base, shredding the bud between them. Flower is placed in between the lid and the base teeth, creating a gap as large as your unground bud is tall, and then ground using light downward pressure during back-and-forth rotations.

Once the two pieces of the grinding chamber meet, a few extra rotations and some taps on the chamber to release the ground bud into the ground flower collector, and you’re left with a mount of fluffy bud ready to be enjoyed.

And while the grinder is capable of shredding whole buds that haven’t been picked apart, we’ll see from the results of our test that it might be best to do some bud breakdown before you start your grind.

Reviewing and Testing the Santa Cruz Shredder Grinder

Aluminum teeth grinders can be found nearly everywhere smoking accessories are sold, which is a testament to their longevity as a go-to product for processing bud into ground goodness ready to rip. But while this grinding mechanism has stood the test of time as an accessory owned by almost every regular smoker, there are some qualms many have with the functionality of the device, and with 15 years of personal use, these claims have been substantiated, personally of-course.

With buds natural stickiness, something we all know and love, it’s only a matter of time before a device that tears and breaks down kush gets build-up on the surfaces and becomes sticky itself. This is the primary issue many have with this particular grinding mechanism. As flower is shredded between the sharp teeth, trichomes are compromised, kief gets compacted around the surfaces of the grinder that come in contact bud, and chambers lock up, becoming near impossible to open or turn, throwing off the vibe, hard!

The second qualm is the starting position when bud is introduced: the teeth are as tall as the piece is deep, so you’re balancing bud between the two share pieces of the grinding mechanism that aren’t being guided by any contact as do the Flower Mill and Stache grinder. With no contact, it is very easy to start your rotations and lose control of each side of the grinder, causing flower to fall and frustration to rise. Trust us, we’ll get to that.

As part of our continuing tests of weed grinders, we chose the Santa Cruz Shredder as a representative of the for the aluminum grinder, being as they are such a prominent name in the industry, serving quality products for nearly 20 years.

In preparation for this review and test, we picked up a Large Anodized Aluminum Black 3-Piece Grinder featuring their patented teeth and particle holes, deep ground flower reservoir, and timeless design.

We kept the experiment process consistent throughout our tests, which included:

• A single individual operating each grinder throughout the entire test for consistent qualitative data collection. A test manager was present to record resulted, time each grind batch, and document the process through photographs and notes;
• Our generous flower partners ZoZ, a cultivator and producer of top-shelf bud and host of cannabis events in the Greater Seattle Rea, provided an ounce of dank, Washington-grown Purple Pineapple Express that smelled as delicious as it looked, frosty and luscious. Twenty-eight (28) 1-gram batches of flower were weighed before and after the grind to measure build up over flower on the grinder time and its effects on the ritual of bud prep;
• After batches #8, #13, #18, #23, and #28, our test manager photographed all post-grind batches to monitor consistency and document the results;
• Weighing the Santa Cruz Shredder before and after each grind batch, again, to monitor buildup of kief and compressed flower over time in the grinder;
• Using a 5-point scale to measure the torque required and resistance encountered when grinding bud during the experiment, as well as particle consistency to give an overall picture of performance and functionality; and
• As a treat for all of our hard work, we broke out King Size Glass, Wood, and Ceramic Tipped Refined White Pre-Rolled Tubes, the DaySavers Perfect Pack Machine, and our ounce of ground ZoZ chronic produced by the Large 3-Piece Santa Cruz Shredder and had an end-of-the week sesh full of perfectly packed pre-rolls.

Putting the Santa Cruz Shredder Grinder to the Test

We were absolutely hooked up by ZoZ Cannabis for our series of grinder tests, providing four ounces of skunky, sticky strains grown to perfection: Brunch Breath used in our Stache Grinder Test, Mimosa for the Flower Mill, and beautiful Purple Pineapple Express for the Santa Cruz Shredder. An additional ounce of ZoZ Candy Pave was provided to supplement for any additional flower need to ensure an even ounce throughout each grinder test.

This is to account for any spillage, large stems from big-ass buds, and let’s be honest, user error caused by shaky hands and sampling of ZoZ bud prior to testing. Sorry not Sorry.

But before we get into the results of our Santa Cruz Shredder review, let’s recap what we’ve covered and where we’re heading:

• A Large 3-Piece Anodized Aluminum Santa Cruz Shredder used for testing, staying consistent with our 2 chamber Stache 360 and Next-Gen Premium 2.5” Stainless Steel Series Flower Mills (kief screen removed);
• An ounce of ZoZ Purple Pineapple Express bud will be ground, with 5-grams of Candy Pave used after a few blunts were packed mid-test, like a water break for stoners;
• Grinder and 1-gram of flower weighed before and after grind to monitor build up on the Shredder over time;
• Resistance encountered and torque required to grind the cannabis was measured on a scale of 1-5, with 1 being low torque and resistance free;
• A grind consistency scale of 1-5 was also used, with 5 being uniform particle consistence and 1 being very uneven.
• Operator reviewed all website material offering guidance on operation to ensure proper use; and
• Breakdown of flower was kept to a minimum, only being performed when prepping each batch of 1-gram of bud for testing.

Reviewing the Santa Cruz Shredder Grinder Test Results

While teeth grinders are effective at breaking down bud, producing a consistently fine particle size, past frustrations with this grinding mechanism arose in early in our 1-ounce grind test, which can be seen in the test data. After using sharp teeth grinders of varying size, material, and brand for over 15 years, I can say, though with a heavy heart, that the performance and functionality of teeth grinders just doesn’t meet the standards I’d expect from such a necessary tool for most smoking rituals.

But let’s take a look at the test results.

With an average grind time of 3 seconds, the Santa Cruz Shredder processed a gram of flower rather quickly, which for us smokers is a big plus. Grind times were consistent throughout, through there were plenty of batches that were affected by functionality issues, tacking on extra time to the average grind time.

The operator often noted difficulty with rotating the grinder efficiently throughout, which can be attributed to the absence of a reservoir in the grind chamber that can hold the bud in place while allowing the lid and base to come into contact with each another, but more on that later.

Weights and Yield

An impressive feat not particularly expected by our team was the Santa Cruz Shredder’s ability to produce a consistent grind and yield while keeping buildup in the grinder to a minimum, a persistent problem we’ve historically had with teeth grinders. In fact, only 0.1-gram of buildup was recorded throughout the test, by far the lowest of our three grinder experiments.

But one negative factor that aids in these consistent yields was the presence of stems in the ground flower chamber that had been shredded during the grind process. While the Flower Mill and Stache reduce the chances of stems ending up in the ground flower due to the fact that sharp teeth aren’t present to break down the hard material, the Santa Cruz Shredder blasts through the stems, which can help remove compressed kief and flower around the teeth and walls of the chamber where regular build up occurs, though kudos to the Santa Cruz Shredder for its powerful performance.

The yield range was plus or minus 0.1-grams, which was the most consistent we’ve seen, and the overall grinder buildup of just 0.1-gram places the Santa Cruz Shredder atop the leaderboard in this category. But while build up may have been minimal through our 1-ounce experiment, from years of experience, continued use past this point will have exponentially quicker build up which will lead to great resistance and the dreaded lock up of threads.

The average grind consistency was a wildly consistent 1 gram, or 0.99-grams to be precise.

Build up often occurs on the walls of the grinding chamber as well as the teeth, with plenty of surface area just waiting to cake up. Now I may sound biased, and perhaps I am, but the critique comes from a history of use and glaring factors encountered in the wild and during testing.

While the particle holes are on the larger side, pegged at a regular to coarse grind size, the teeth make close contact with one another, producing a consistently fine grind.

The weight of the grinder never exceeded 0.3 grams above its starting weight and finished just 0.1 grams heavier. And while buildup on teeth grinders is usually a major issue for users, I have to tip my hat to Santa Cruz Shredder, you proved me wrong on this test, though experience still tells me to be cautious.

Time to Grind 1-Gram of Flower

Putting a gram of flower through this teeth grinder took a short 3 seconds, a superb speed that would please even the harshest critic. The quickest time to grind was 2.1 seconds, while the longest run was 6 seconds, encountered on the first batch.

The spikes in grind time came from a consistent, frustrating issue that occurred seven times during our test where the lid and base of the grinding chamber encountered major slippage during early rotations. With the lid of the grinder simply balancing on the nug of bud ready to be ground, the lid and base easily came out of alignment, causing spillage, frustration, and longer overall grind times.

In fact, only one batch of the seven that encountered this mishap had a grind time under the test average. If these situations hadn’t occurred, I could imagine at least a half second coming off of the average grind time. But due to the fact that the lid and base don’t meet prior to starting your grind, there is plenty of room for user error, or design-produced user error I would say.

And it’s worth noting that the bud used here was slightly less sticky than what we tested with the Flower Mill and Stache 360, making the job a bit easier for the Santa Cruz Shredder, though its radial teeth are well-equipped to handle bud at any moisture level.

Ground Flower Consistency

With certainty, the Santa Cruz Shredder throughout the entire experiment produced ground flower with the highest grade of consistency, coming in at an average score of 4.2.

There were only three instances of a score of 3 and for each of these, slippage in the early stages of operation occurred, with larger chunks of flower falling on the table instead of continuing to be broken down until it falls through the particle holes.

The fact that the sharp teeth come into very close contact with each other during rotations in the grind chamber means a finer, more consistent yield will be created. Even ground bud that is small enough to fall through the particle holes can be held in the grinding chamber because it doesn’t have room to fall through the holes that are trapped by near-interlocking teeth and requires taps and the lid off to fall through efficiently.

While the Santa Cruz Shredder has relatively large, fixed particle holes, the grinding mechanism retains flower and continues to break it down with each rotation, almost forcing a fine to extra-fine yield. That’s great for rolling joints or packing cones, but a bit too fine for a great blunt.

But when it comes to producing consistently ground bud, the Santa Cruz Shredder gets the job done damn well.

Required Torque and Resistance Met

Instances of elevated torque required and resistance met were consistent, and to be frank, annoying. Seven batches were affected by slippage during the initial rotations, which, as noted, caused longer grind times and poor grinding conditions.

And with the sharp teeth eating through stems, you’re gonna need to muscle through those on occasion, which will add resistance, as well as leave sharp stems in your ground flower that’ll burn harsh or worse: potentially ripping papers and wraps when rolling or packing blunts and joints.

The overall grind experience and functionality are hampered by the engineering of the grinding mechanism itself. The teeth pass right by each other, which can force larger masses of ground flower to pass through the narrow gaps between the teeth, causing resistance that needs added torque to get through.

While the torque score never exceeded a 2 and the sharp teeth suggest it should power through bud,18 batches still landed a score of 2. We’d chalk that up to the grinding mechanism and the lack of a pre-ground flower reservoir, both of which contributed to a less-than-optimal experience. The 1.6 average torque score is a bit deceiving, and we’ll break down why in the next section.

With a resistance score average of 2.1, the experiment was split evenly between a resistant free, low torque grind and a problematic fight in the grinding chamber. The sharp teeth break through bud easily, but with an awkward starting position and ground bud taking more rotations to completely fall through particle holes, a favorable experience is hit or miss.

Observations Encountered During Santa Cruz Shredder Grinder Test

Throughout the Santa Cruz Shredder grinder review, we recorded key events that arose during the experiment:

• Batch 1 – The gap between the lid and base caused by the height of teeth in both the lid and base produce conditions where error and slippage can occur at a greater rate than if a reservoir is available in the grinding chamber for the pre-ground flower. Slippage caused a need to reposition the lid and base to continue the process, spillage of bud not fully ground, and a frustrating experience.
• Batch 7 – Slippage similar to Batch 1.
• Batch 8 – Slippage similar to Batch 1.
• Batch 12 – Slippage similar to Batch 1.
• Batch 14 – Slippage similar to Batch 1.
• Batch 15 – Applying greater downward pressure to avoid during early rotations.
• Batch 17 – Slippage similar to Batch 1.
• Batch 23 – Slippage similar to Batch 1.
• Batch 24 – Switched to delectable Candy Pave ZoZ bud to round out the final 5 batches.
• Batch 28 – By the final batch of the teeth grinder review and test, flashbacks of 15 years of qualms with this style of grind mechanism were very present in this experiment.

DaySavers Santa Cruz Shredder Grinder Assessment

It would be dishonest to not state that coming into this review of the Santa Cruz Shredder, I had a bias against traditional teeth grinders for the fact that buildup is a consistent issue, the starting position when bud is loaded is awkward, and lock up is inevitable.

And while the data shows that build up and lock up weren’t particularly encountered during this 1-ounce test, the issue with the starting position causing slippage during early rotations was a frustrating and common problem, encountered on nearly 1/3 of the test batches. And to note once again, the test operator had used teeth grinders for nearly 17 years and still couldn’t avoid this blunder.

Grind consistency was the most favorable aspect of the Shredder test, with a highly consistent fine grind, perfect for joints as the even grind helps prevent gaps in joints that cause hot-spots that can lead to running and canoeing. The fluffy bud that it produced is easy to handle, and while more rotations will produce a finer grind, fewer rotations will leave you with courser ground particles, so it’s a matter of desired particle size and the right combo of turns to get your grind of choice.

But with 7 batches affected by early-stage sticking issues, through slippage or issues with the lid and base coming into aligned contact after breakage has begun, reinforced biases from years of experience with sharp teeth grinders.

Final Thought on the Santa Cruz Shredder

Do aluminum teeth grinders get the job done? Of course. There’s a reason why, still today, they are the most common grinding mechanism you’ll encounter in the wild. But innovation has led to, in my opinion, more advanced and user-friendly functionality surrounding the grind mechanism and overall engineering of the grinder.

We will soon compare the results of the Santa Cruz Shredder, Flower Mill, and Stache Grinders, using a premium 3-piece grinder from each brand, to give you our honest, data-backed review of top consumer grinders on the market.

As a pre-roll brand, we appreciate a consistent fine, fluffy grind, but the need to pick out stems prior to or after grinding, a task not required with the Flower Mill or Stache grinders, gives us pause when recommending traditional tooth grinders as the go-to for all your flower prep needs.

Now I can safely say that if I were presented with the option of picking apart fresh bud or using an aluminum teeth grinder like a Santa Cruz Shredder, I would choose the trusty aluminum staple of the cannabis accessories market 100% of the time.

But would I make it my daily grinder? I’ll have to plead the fifth on that one, your honor.

Everything depends on user preference, so you may see where my preference lies between these three grinding mechanisms, but what matters most is what you need and want.

Stay true to yourself, grind and pack your way, and Enjoy Your Day, my friends!