There are fancy grinders? I just bought whatever had a kief catcher at the store and turned well. I'd give a leg for something with a handle for turning too (arthritis sucks). I've thought about epoxying or welding one on.
I still use the cheap LOTR grinder a buddy gave me almost a decade ago now lol, never really occurred to me to get a better one, it's kind of one of those tools where the cheap shit works just as well as the expensive ones in practice
Depends entirely on how you're consuming your herb. As mentioned to another poster, there are different grades (hardness) of steel. Cheap grinders don't hold a sharp edge on the teeth for very long. Your grinder still "works" but is it as easy to turn? Does it gunk up with resin fast? That's due to tearing/mushing the herb as opposed to grinding.
Additionally not everyone simply smokes their herb. Dry herbal vaporizers are essentially mini ovens designed to cook the herb to release the active compounds (without combusting and inhaling a nasty toxic cocktail of carcinogenics and carbon monoxide) - the fun part is different temps release different effects from the herb (so I can skip the sedative/couch-locking affects of the herb when desired). Not all dry vaporizers "cook" the same way - some devices work best with an ultra-fine grind (almost powdered kief) for optimal heat-transfer, while other vaporizers benefit from a very fluffy "airy" grind.
So if you're loading up a waterpipe or joint, sure a medium grind is good enough. But if you're trying to get fancy, there are certainly plenty of ways to enhance your sesh experience.
I use a dynavap, and have never had any issues with grinding using my cheap pos 🤷🏼♂️way back in the day when I took this stuff more seriously I had an ultrafine grinder for my vape, but honestly there isn't much of an actual difference at the end of the day. Maybe it makes extraction a tiny bit more efficient, but called are already so efficient I'm not really bothered by it
Oh totally, an average grinder will work just fine for most vaporizers, especially with enough patience. But I am absolutely talking about the refined ent who is looking for ways to "maximize" the efficiency of the device, or for those like myself who are flavor chasing snobs - different grinds can help achieve a more efficient and tastier extraction.
Nah, the Santa Cruz Shredder is a pretty nice grinder and should work great with the TM2. If you think you're missing out on anything, try doing two things:
Clean your grinder! Grab a toothbrush and use a bit of ISO alcohol. Remove the PTFE ring using a knife first before using ISO to clean (it will affect the plastic). The toothbrush and iso will help you scrub away the buildup on the teeth of the grinder.
If you have a 3-piece or 4-piece grinder, try turning the grinder upside down to get a more thorough grind before uprighting the grinder and letting the herb fall through the holes into the bottom section.
They have grinders like that, I almost got one myself off Amazon, but I was worried about how sturdy they would be.
I ended up getting a big ass 4 piece grinder for $15 or smth I think and it's held up well enough the last 4 years. I have grip issues too and I needed a larger grinder with some knurling.
Here's a couple of options available at Walmart as an example:
Thank you dude. That second one, with the handle, is just what I'm looking for. I've just kind of given up because what I've got works well enough and poor
Yep I hear you. I can't vouch for the efficacy of those ones (and certainly not that brand), only pointing out that there are options out there that won't cost an arm and a leg to try and won't require you to fuckin weld anything lol
EDIT its been a while but if I remember correctly, over half the reviews on those herb/spice grinders on Amazon were by people using them for weed