The Best Grinder for Kief

If you’re looking for the best weed grinder that collects the most amount of kief, keep reading. “Best” is an opinionated term, so while I would love to just give you one brand of grinder and set you free, I can’t do that.  

For even something as minute as kief collection, there are a host of situations where, “it depends”, is going to be the correct response. This can be aggravating when you’re just looking for a simple recommendation, but in the interest of being fair and honest, that’s how it has to go.

First off, for the random strangers that just happened to drop by — kief is just a term used to describe a collection of trichomes that has fallen off cannabis.

Thanks for reading! Use ZAM10 for 10% off a ZAM stainless steel grinder!

Two Main Factors Determine the Amount of Kief Collected

Now, there are two main factors that will influence how well a grinder collects kief: Screen hole size and surface area of screen.

Surface Area of Screen

The surface area of the screen will decide the amount of cannabis that can be pressed up against the screen, or how much room there is for trichomes to fall off. With a smaller screen, your ground cannabis will bunch up vertically and your trichomes are less likely to settle-against and subsequently fall through the screen.

Some people prefer three-piece weed grinders because they don’t want the kief separated from their flower. The idea is they would rather keep the trichomes on the weed for each session, rather than save up the kief over time.

Size of Screen's Holes

The size of the screen’s holes is the most important factor in determining both the quality and quantity of kief collection. Unfortunately these attributes are often inversely related, i.e. the higher the quality kief you want to collect, the lower amount you’re likely to receive, and vice-versa.

These hole sizes are measured in µm’s, which is equal to a micrometer, or .001mm.

A weed grinder with a larger hole size will have kief that looks more green as a result of regular plant matter passing through the screen, while a grinder with a fine screen will produce a fine gold dust.  Pure Trichomes when collected are a nice deep golden yellow, and when pressed into pucks, turns a light brown.

A finer screen seems like the best choice as first, but there are serious draw-backs if you care about the amount of maintenance required to keep your grinder running smoothly. A fine screen is more likely to clog as the sticky trichomes bunch together while a larger screen can run smoothly indefinitely.

That isn’t to say that you can’t clean a fine grinder screen, it just will need more maintenance and for many, it’s not worth the hassle. ZAM grinders are known for kief-producing screens that don’t clog, and that’s because our screens are a little larger than expected, but still small enough to produce that gorgeous golden goodness.

What About Cannabis Itself Leads to Better Kief Collection? 

Cannabis is a complicated plant with many strains, phenotypes, and a myriad of factors that influence trichome production, so don’t expect to receive the same amount of kief for different strains. Even cannabis picked from the top of the plant (a top cola), will have more trichomes and therefore produce more kief than cannabis picked from the bottom of the plant. That’s why Seth Rogen’s and many other luxury weed brands proclaim to only sell cannabis picked from the top of the plant.

The humidity of the ground weed can also significantly impact the quantity of kief you collet. A more humid plant will retain more of its trichomes. The drier your weed, the more kief you can expect assuming cannabis of equal quality.  

How to get Kief out of grinder?

Sometimes the best option is to light tap your screen with a pen or small object to push the excess kief into the kief tray.

Another option is to freeze your grinder. While warm trichomes are sticky and hard to move, frozen trichomes are more brittle and easier to knock-off and collect.

The last is a small brush for your weed grinder. Brushing your grinding out between grinds can help keep it clean. And if you have threads in your grinder, this will help prevent your grinder from getting stuck.

Check out our grinder that has a new patent pending ring magnet that prevents our grinders from getting stuck. Say good-bye to those annoying weed patties!

Consider a Weed Shovel for picking up kief

We sell a nice little 3D printed weed shovel that’s perfect for scooping up weed or kief from your grinder tray. It’s cheap, works well, and is a lot less expensive than other little scoops.

Lego Shovel for Weed Scooping

Another option is a lego shovel for weed scooping. You can buy packs of 50 of these if you’re really dying for a mini lego shovel. Amazon should sell them individually too, though they’re like $5 each, which is crazy for a pure plastic shovel.  

Vibrating Weed Grinders

If collecting as much kief as possible from your grinder makes you smile, there are manual weed grinders with electric vibrators designed to knock-off as much kief as possible. Kief is naturally falls off as plant material moves around inside your grinder, but these take it to another level by constantly vibrating, essentially sifting your weed in your grinder.

These grinders are a little gimmicky, made from cheap metals, and frankly don’t work well. But if you’re interested in solely producing as much kief as possible, these are an option.

Multi-Screen Weed Grinder

Above we mentioned that herb grinders come with screens of varying sizes. The purpose of a multi-screen weed grinder is to further purify the kief that collects in your grinder chamber. The first screen is a larger hole size that helps to initially sift the trichomes away, and then the second screen sifts it even more, leaving only the finest kief. This feature is relatively rare because people generally find it not worth the trouble, but the option is there.

Maybe you're looking for a small weed grinder? 

So What is the Best Kief Catching Grinder?           

So what is the best kief catching grinder? Well that depends. If you’re looking for the finest kief, I would recommend finding a cannabis grinder that advertises the micron-size of their screen as that’s the only way you’ll be able to tell how well it might collect kief. Any grinder with a kief catcher will work, but the Santa Cruz Shredder or ZAM stainless steel 2.5" are two of the best weed grinders for collecting kief.