The Best Weed Grinders on the Market

Breaking down bud by hand is reserved for OGs or the occasions when you’re sesh-preppin' sans-grinder (and we’ve all been there). So whether you take down pre-rolled joints or blunts, rip a bong, bubbler or pipe, or anything in between, your grinder is your sesh sidekick and the cornerstone of any Stoner Kit.

But for such an essential tool for the cannabis enthusiast, there had been a lack of innovation throughout the years, with the traditional sharp-toothed herb grinder becoming standard. But no longer, our team of Pre-Roll Experts were determined to find the best consumer weed grinders on the market today; and we did.

We looked for a grinder that produced a dank final grind while operating smoothly over an extended period of time and overcoming the all-to-common issues that plague the grinding experience, primarily lockup from kief and bud buildup throughout the grinder.

So DaySavers set out, with our knowledge of the industry, to pit the top weed grinders on the market against each other in the ultimate consumer grinder battle to see which brand’s grinder mechanics and engineering led in performance and functionality – because who the fuck wants to feel like they’re battling their grinder just to get to their pre-roll session.

From our exposure to the newest technology from our cannabis tradeshow involvement, our one-of-a-kind deep dive into the landscape of consumer grinders, to our three grinder tests featuring the top 3 grinders on the market – we're here to share what we’ve learned and what we use to pack our pre-rolls and bowls.

And this isn’t just any “Top W33d Grinders of [insert year here]” article like something from Buzzfeed. No, this is Stoner Science to its core, researched, tested and analyzed by the Pre-Roll Experts of DaySavers, Fill-a Blunts, Smoke Temple and Custom Cones USA.

And not to brag, we know a thing or two about preppin’ dank and smokin’ stank. Now let’s look at our contestants, shall we?

Contestants in Our Search for the Best Weed Grinders

We identified the top grinding mechanisms – the portion of the grinder that does the physical grinding – from the producers leading the way in the market. Three brands, three grind technologies, three tests, and three tools with different strengths and weaknesses.

Let’s take a look at our competitors, and for an in-depth at each – check out our full-on reviews linked below:

The Premium Flower Mill: Not a Grinder but a Cannabis Mill

Unlike a traditional grinder that shreds bud, the Flower Mill employs a fluted lid that pushes and rolls buds across an interchangeable mill plate for varying particle sizes aligning with the method of consumption you’ll be partaking in.

The Stache 360 Grindyr: Featuring Micro-Rounded Teeth

An innovative approach to a grinder employing teeth, the Stache 360 uses short, rounded “teeth” that gently breaks up the flower and preserves cannabinoid rich trichomes. The Stache 360 features a one-of-a-kind chamber perk in its side particle holes that make every surface an entrance to the next chamber.

The Santa Cruz Shredder: The Traditional Sharp Toothed Grinder

The gold-standard of the tried-and-true sharp toothed grinder that has defined a generation. Whether square tooth, diamond tooth, this tooth shape or that tooth shape, the Large 3-Piece Santa Cruz Shredder is the go-to sharp teeth grinder and has been for some time. But new technology doesn't always mean better technology, but the top dog always has competition. So let’s take a look at how these grinders performed, shall we?

Putting the Top Weed Grinders to the Test

In order to collect consistent quantitative and qualitative data, we structured our tests to reflect this goal, including:

• Using a single individual to perform all tests for each of our three grinders tested
• Sourcing our flower, 1-ounce per test, from a single producer: ZoZ Cannabis - our dear friends hailing from Seattle
• Running 28 one-gram batches of premium ZoZ weed using a precision scale and recording data for the following:
• Grinder weight pre- and post-grind to identify kief and flower build up;
• Torque required to grind during these 1-gram test;
• Resistance met during each batch;
• Time to grind 1-gram of sticky-icky;
• Ground flower yield and consistency; as well as
• Operator notes on key events encountered throughout the 28-batch test.

One factor unique to our test with the Premium Stainless Flower Mill was the swapping of mill plates over a set number of batches, including eight for the standard #3 plate, and five for each of the interchangeable fine, extra-fine, course, and extra-course plate.

ZoZ Cannabis’s founder and certified OG Natali Schutz gave us 4-ounces of their Washington-grown Mimosa, Candy Pave, Brunch Breath and Purple Pineapple Express for our tests, and we packed up many-a premium pre-rolled cone or tube throughout the process. So of course, Natali is our hero.

Now, let’s take a look at the test results and see which of the top grinders on the market today performed best overall and in each individual category we measured.

Grinder Test Results – Comparing Grinder Performance

The Stache 360 performed like a star, with an average grind time under 3 seconds and minimal build up over time. The side particle holes on the 360 nearly eliminated the opportunity for flower and kief to build up, and the grinder is easy to operate and load, requiring minimal torque while maintaining effortless operation and producing consistent ground bud.

Our biggest qualm with cannabis grinders is the dreaded buildup of dank bud that jams up chambers, and Stache has found a way to nearly eliminate that headache, with near flawless engineering. Stems do not make it into the ground flower chamber, so your bud is neat and fluffy with no more holes in your pre-rolls. We loved the performance of the Stache 360, and the data backed up those feelings.

The Premium Flower Mill produces a fluffy grind with variable particle size due to the interchangeable mill plates that provide a grind range from extra-fine to extra-course. And after putting the Flower Mill to the test, we understand what all the hype surrounding these grinders was all about. With a new and patented grinding/milling mechanism that performs as well as it looks, the absence of sharp teeth makes the mill easy to load and operate, though unlike the Stache it features a center post, complicating loading.

And while the Flower Mill did not lead in any of our measured categories, the mill's marks were extremely positive, the grind was fluffy and operating the grinder is a joy.

The Santa Cruz Shredder, representing sharp teeth grinders, was the weakest performer despite having the highest marks for some of our recorded metrics. Over a third of batches from this round of tests encountered slippage due to the lid and base of the grinding chamber not making contact before grinding, occurring regularly from beginning to end.

The primary reason behind these tests was our collective negative experiences with sharp teeth grinders, so there may be some biases against the Santa Cruz Shredder, but the data and notes from our tests back up those potentially valid biases. With no reservoir in the grinding chamber, you have an awkward start to your grind. With sharp teeth shredding buds and trichomes, you can’t escape build up. And while the grind is pretty consistent, it is also very fine, which may leave blunt and pre-roll smokers wanting.

The following table shows the average marks each grinder earned throughout these tests:

But let’s take a look at our category leaders before we name our top consumer grinder.

The Weed Grinder with the Highest Average Yield and Least Build-Up: Shredder

The Santa Cruz Shredder takes the win for the highest average ground flower yield and a round and perfect 1-gram per batch, while the Flower Mill came in at 0.96-grams followed by the Stache at 0.90-grams. And while this may seem like a positive, the primary reason for the lower yields produced by the Stache and Flower Mill: removal and retention of stems in the grind chamber.

The Stache’s rounded teeth and the Flower Mill’s fluted lid were engineered to separate bud from stem and keep them from being shredded into your final grind, so while a 1-gram average yield sounds boss, there were definitely ground stems in many of those test batches.

The Santa Cruz Shredder also came out with the least build up throughout our test, only adding 0.1-grams to its final weight, with the Flower Mill adding 0.7-grams and the Stache adding a full-gram in total. We encountered difficulty opening the grind and ground flower chamber with the Flower Mill due to build up around the threads.

It is also worth noting that the flower used for the Santa Cruz Shredder test was a bit drier than the others, but regardless, the grinder performed, though our operator (me) saw the early signs of kief buildup.

The Cannabis Grinder with the Least Required Torque and Resistance Met: Stache

The Stache 360 claimed its spot as the easiest grinder to operate, encountering minimal resistance which never required much torque either, a testament to the rounded teeth and 360-degree particle holes. The Stache 360 scored a 1.3 for resistance met and 1.4 for torque required, while the Flower Mill followed with a resistance score of 1.82 and an identical score in torque.

While the Santa Cruz Shredder’s many teeth tore through buds, the teeth would also jam up when they hit a stem, making the process uncomfortable, especially after starting with a lid that doesn’t touch the other portion of the grind chamber due to flower renting on the teeth instead of a reservoir.

The Grinder with the Quickest Grind Time: Stache

The Stache 360 comes away again with the win for the quickest grind time, and pair that with the ease of operation, and you might be able to predict which grinder we prefer here at DaySavers. With an average grind time of only 2.87 seconds, the Stache was far ahead of the Flower Mill, which required 4.2 seconds per batch, while the Santa Cruz Shredder and its sharp teeth powered through 28 grams of flower at an average time of only 2.92 seconds, nearly the same the Stache 360.

One reason for the longer grind times in the Flower Mill test was the need to apply low pressure to the lid during operation, as heavy pressure will smash the buds against the mill plate and crush them instead of milling them.

The Herb Grinder Producing the Most Consistent Ground Flower: Shredder

The Santa Cruz Shredder takes the top spot in our final category looking at consistency of particle size for batch yields throughout, due in part to the shredding power of the Santa Cruz’s sharp teeth. With the Flower Mill and Stache 360, there would be a standard size grind with additional smaller particles, compared to the Santa Cruz Shredder where the ground flower was consistent, albeit very fine.

So while the ground flower from the Shredder might be the most consistent, a blunt smoker may be discouraged by such a fine grind. The Flower Mill was our runner up with a consistency score of 4 followed by the Stache 360 at a 3.6.

The Top Weed Grinders on the Market Today as Reported by the Pre-Roll Experts at DaySaver

After running each grinder through the same one-ounce grind test and evaluating residue build-up, ease of use, and grind quality, the Stache 360 and Premium Flower Mill were identified by our grinder tester (me) as the top performing grinders with the most effective grinding mechanisms. And while the Santa Cruz Shredder scored top marks in a few categories, performance and overall experience was lacking throughout our tests.

The Overall Best as Determined by the Data and Grind Tester: The Stache 360

The Stache 360 delivered the strongest overall performance of the three grinders tested. We consistently experienced the Stache’s incredibly smooth rotation, near-resistance-free operation, and only minor build-up even with sticky top-shelf flower, thanks to those patented side holes.

Its rounded short teeth made for incredible stem-separation, producing a fluffy stem-less grind ideal for packing pre-rolls. The engineering is ahead of its time and solves nearly every frustration that comes with traditional tall, sharp-toothed grinders.

The Stache 360 provides an effortless experience with peak performance and a prime final product, making it the winner of our Battle of the Consumer Grinders.

The Favorite Amongst the Broader DaySavers Team: The Flower Mill

While the Stache 360 topped my list, the DaySavers team gravitated more toward the Flower Mill for everyday use. It has a slight learning curve, but produces incredibly fluffy milled flower, separates stems without shredding them if pressure is applied properly, and the interchangeable mill-plate system makes it extremely versatile for every smoking occasion.

The Flower Mill’s smooth low-effort rotation and consistently pleasant experience made it the grinder our team reached for most often. For the pot smoker who values versatility and performance, the Flower Mill is a great daily grinder.

A Reliable Classic: The Santa Cruz Shredder

The Santa Cruz Shredder remains a staple in many-a Stoner Kit for a reason: it produces a fine, consistent grind. But its time-tested design brings with it familiar headaches: slippage during early rotations, intense build up over time, and shredded stems in the final grind.

It will surely get the job done, and sharp tooth grinders still rule the market, but in a world where consumers demand performance, the Shredder now feels like a legacy option rather than the top contender.

Final Thoughts on the Top Consumer Grinders on the Market

The ritual of prepping flower for a sesh should be a positive experience, not a frustrating one where you’re battling slippage, build-up and resistance, and grinder technology has finally caught up with the times.

Without sharp teeth, Stache and Flowe Mills are able to gently separate buds from stems and tear the bud rather than shredding it, keeping precious trichomes intact and causing less sticky build up.

And while we salute the classic, traditional sharp toothed grinder that has served generations of consumers over the years, we feel it is safe to say the technology behind the Stache 360 and Premium Flower Mill will be what pushes the consumer grinder market forward toward innovation and performance.