The Best Weed Grinders Offer Sharp Design and an Even Sharper Bite

If you partake in even the occasional toke and do not own a weed grinder, we're sorry, but you are doing it wrong. The best weed grinders make quick and easy work of breaking down flower, whether you're rolling something up, packing it in a pipe, a vaporizer, or using it for cannabutter. All of which to say: Great cannabis deserves equally great equipment. Weed grinders keep the shredding process tidy, offering consistently ground flower, which ultimately ensures even burning or vaping and a smoother high. A more obvious reason to get a grinder? No sticky fingers.

The Best Weed Grinders, According to GQ

As the market for weed grinders expands, the category's been flooded with some pretty nifty options, though not all are able to churn out the fluffy flower you'd want for your THC delivery method of choice. We took a handful of these little gadgets, grabbed some uncut bud, and shredded it like Tony Hawk to help you find the best options for you, then rounded it out with some similar options at a range of price points. From simple two-chamber setups to full-blown electric grinders, here are the best weed grinders that have the right kind of bite for your bud.

The Best Weed Grinder, Overall: Sackville Signature Grinder

Sackville is one of the best brands in the biz for stylish, but effective weed paraphernalia. The brand's modestly-sized Signature grinders look sharp with a four-tiered design and ribbed silhouette, which we appreciate for helping to provide grip and twisting torque when the device is packed.

Often when you overpack a grinder, you end up with a locking sensation because the teeth can't shred through the flower, but that hasn't been the case with this Sackville number. The sharp metal teeth break down some of the fluffiest flower compared to the rest of the grinders on this list, and we really love that it comes with a mesh screen to catch your kief (i.e. the ultrafine, super potent particles that fall off during the grinding process) in a separate chamber. It's also our top pick for how durable this grinder is for the price.

The Best Upgrade Aluminum Weed Grinder: Santa Cruz Shredder

Seasoned weed enthusiasts will likely have handled one of Santa Cruz’s medical-grade anodized aluminum grinders at some point. The classic American-made grinder uses durable teeth that are designed and placed in a specific threading pattern to provide super strength and the capability to cut in multiple directions. This means fluffy and fine ground flower, every time.

The high-grade aluminum also won’t shed into your flower the same way that a cheaper, low-budget grinder might. We prefer the medium-sized, three-piece shredder, but the grinder also comes in smaller options, and with various compartments.

The Best Weed Grinder for Vapers: Kannastor GR8TR Jar Body Grinder

Kannastor makes modular grinders that offer some of the best customization on the market. It will of course break up your flower so it can be rolled in a joint or packed into a bong, but it goes above and beyond for vape users. The grinder comes with separate plates, one of which is designed specifically for those loading up their vape.

The best part? The grinder is modular by design. You can configure and assemble it in various ways. You can remove the sifting chamber, or you can convert it to a slim pocketable storage puck. It comes in four finishes, including blue, matte black, matte silver, rose gold.

The Best Splurge-y Weed Grinder: Brilliant Cut Stainless Steel Grinders

If you take cannabis seriously, you'll want a serious grinder. Brilliant Cut's stainless steel grinder is quite possibly the best we've ever tested, offering a seamless grind and expertly chopped-up weed. The lineup of grinders are as heft as they are stately, using a proven mechanical design engineered to minimize friction and metal wear, while ensuring the weed is actually ground instead of being crushed.

The brand also leverages the use of magnets to mitigate potential jamming when the device is packed. As a result, despite being the heaviest grinder we've taken for a spin, the BCG rotates easily even when packed. There are three different grind plates to choose from—coarse, medium, and fine—but you can also opt to buy all three (for extra, of course), which we recommend a better variety of ground-up flower.

The Best Acrylic Weed Grinder: Budeaze World's Fastest Herb Grinder

Plastic weed grinders get a bad rap for quality—namely that the teeth break, the body cracks, the threading wears away, and worse: Plastic may eventually start to flake off with use. But Budeaze has solved for these common issues and turned in a solid acrylic option. The Budeaze World's Fastest Herb Grinder offers what the brand calls “on-demand” grinding, which means you can break down what you need at the moment while keeping the rest of your bud fresh for a later time. You can load up to three grams through the clear bottom, while the top compresses and grinds it down to size.

The Best Glass Weed Grinder: Houseplant Glass Grinder

Seth Rogan is one funky ashtray away from being more famous for his weed paraphernalia than his acting. The green textured glass grinder from his high-minded smoking accessories brand Houseplant looks like an object you’d find in an antiques store, but inside of this circular vessel you'll find a tight little grinding unit. It’s glass, so handle it with care, but it does feel like a piece of art so you'll probably do just fine.

The Best Wooden Weed Grinder: Raw Birchtop Grinder

Raw is best known for its rolling papers and rolling trays, but it also makes other decent weed accessories like this wooden grinder. The top is made from birch with a noticeably smooth finish on the exterior and impressively sharp wooden teeth inside. The glass bottom is available in both a clear and blue finish. Wooden weed grinders are less common than, say, stainless steel or plastic, but the brand has done a solid job of creating a grinder that has an earthy feel and looks a little different all while doing what it promises to do: shred fine flower.

The Best Design-Minded Weed Grinder: Edie Parker Tabletop Grinder

These days, you don't have to settle for cannabis accessories that look like they belong in a dorm. Over the past few years, a new crop of brands have been helping pave the way for weed gear that you wouldn't mind leaving out on your coffee table when you have guests over. Edie Parker gets it, and we're a huge fan of the brand's color-blocked grinder.

In our tests, this four-piece metal grinder was able to get through a hefty amount of weed with ease, and we really appreciated the rubber exterior, which made gripping the otherwise all-metal grinder way easier. It's available in two different colorways, and plays nice with the rest of Edie Parker's run of design-minded cannabis accessories.

The Best Electric Weed Grinder: Banana Bros Otto Grinder

Unlike others on this list, Banana Bros' automatic weed grinder requires just a press of a button to smoothly and evenly mill your cannabis, rather than grinding it, thanks to its precision blades that adjust the pressure and speed by sensing the texture of your flower. The flower ends up getting sliced up into finer pieces rather than getting ground up, resulting in a more uniform flower that burns more evenly , creates a better flavor, and ensures a longer-lasting high.

Using one of these electric models is way more more convenient than manually grinding up your weed (obviously for a fairly steep price tag). After your flower is milled, you can roll joints in seconds by using the Otto cone-filling attachment, furthering positioning this device as a do-it-all device for all things weed.

The Best Budget Electric Weed Grinder: Pulsar King Kut Electric Grinder

Not everyone can manually twist and grind their flower. The Pulsar King Kut Electric Weed Grinder uses a stainless steel blade and a 1000mAh lithium ion battery to deliver a quick and consistent flower. Though it's nowhere near as smart as the Banana Bros Ott Grinder, it's an excellent budget alternative for anyone who might think the Otto is overkill.

The ground weed goes directly into a glass jar, which keeps mess to a minimum and allows you to keep an eye on consistency while the blades are spinning. It's fairly simple to use, but do know that it can get jammed-up. Either way, it's easy to clear it out for consistent use.

The Best Mini Weed Grinder: Zam Pocket Grinder

At just just over an inch in diameter, the aluminum Zam grinder is one of the most compact options on the market. While it stands at around four inches tall, it remains adorable and good at what it does, sliding right into your pocket. This latest version has a new bite, a stronger magnetic ring to secure the device in place, and a coarser screen to gather as much pollen as possible.

The Best Weed Card Grinder: Canna Style Card Grinder

For $5 you can have peace of mind and always be able to shred your buds, whenever and wherever (just don’t lose your wallet). This card-sized grinder, which is thin as a credit card, slides into any card slop and essentially works like a cheese grater. Of course it won’t give you the precision or consistency of the other products on this list, but it beats sticky fingers in a pinch.

As you shop for your next weed grinder, you’ll want to consider how you’ll be using the thing: Do you want to be able to easily carry your grinder around or is it going to sit on your coffee table? Are you packing monster bowls and leaving grams of busted cannabis in the grinder, or breaking up a half gram at a time for a vape or one-hitter? As your smoking habits evolve and change, there's a grinder that can help you get the most out of your session.

Here are a few more things to look out for:

• Grinding power: You typical weed grinder consists of two parts: a lid and the grinding chamber with teeth. The number and pattern of teeth will impact how the flower is broken up. Not enough teeth and you'll find yourself grinding your flower numerous times. Generally, for vapes, you're going to want a finer grind to enjoy the efficient hit of cannabinoids, while a coarser texture works for a joint.
• Materials: By far, metal grinders are more popular than plastic grinders because of how consistently they grind and how durable they are. The best grinders are typically made from high-grade aluminum. Cheaper grinders, which have their place for portability and price, are made from acrylic, plastic, or wood.
• Number of chambers: Grinders come with a range of chambers—as many as five that perform various functions. A standard two-chamber grinder will suffice for most tokers, but if you want to separate the crystals that fall off during the grinding process, pick one with an additional kief screen to sift the fine material and store it in a separate compartment.

Most manual grinders function the same way. A top chamber or lid is removed to reveal the grinding chamber and its teeth or pegs—this is where the flower goes. When the lid is put back in place and rotated, the teeth above and below will begin to separate the buds. After a few twists in each direction the bud will begin to break up, and in some cases fall through holes to the compartment below.

If your grinder has a kief screen, after a few uses you can unscrew the bottom compartment and use the included scraper to collect the cannabinoid-and terpene-rich pollen to add to a bowl, vape, or to sprinkle into a joint.