We’ve all been there. You have everything you need to have a lovely smoke session except for that one thing. Sometimes you forget the lighter, other times it’s the papers. Or maybe you forgot your grinder. If that’s the case, we’ll show you how to grind weed without a grinder like a pro. 

If you forget or just don’t own a grinder, you’re okay. You will still get to enjoy your weed with or without the tool. 

Do I have to grind my weed?

The short answer is no, you’re an adult and we can’t make you grind your weed. But if you want to make the most out of your cannabis and also get the best bang for your buck, you should probably do it. 

It’s an easy step that makes the overall experience much more pleasant. When you grind cannabis, you shred and break down the flower into fine, uniform pieces, which allows for an even burn. 

Plus, weed is covered in trichomes – the hair-like structures that give it a sticky, frosty coating. These glands produce large amounts of terpenes and compounds crucial to a pleasant high. When you break down the bud with your fingers, a lot of the frosty coating gets stuck to your hands or breaks off and disappears into the floor. Grinding cannabis can help to preserve these trichomes and improve your high. 

Ways to grind weed without a grinder

While a real grinder is the best way to go, we don’t always have that luxury. Here are some ways to grind weed regardless:

Snip your buds in a shot glass or small cup 

Before you start, please make sure both your scissors and your shot glass or cup are clean and free of debris. You don’t need to smoke any random particles. 

Now simply add your bud to the shot glass or cup and stick your scissors in. Go wild and start snipping until you see your bud transform from a whole nug to small, uniform pieces. While snipping this way can be fun, don’t let it get out of hand and spill your precious contents. You’ll probably never get perfectly even pieces, but you can sure get close with this method. 

Coffee grinder 

Using a coffee grinder is perhaps the easiest way to navigate not having a weed grinder. You’ll want to make sure you thoroughly clean out all the coffee remains before you grind and also thoroughly remove all of the weed particles after. 

Just load your nugs into your coffee grinder and take it slow, pulsing for a second or two at a time. Coffee grinders can be pretty powerful, so be sure you don’t overdo it. You don’t want a fine cannabis powder, but rather well broken up pieces. 

Kitchen knife and cutting board

Unleash your master chef skills by chopping up your nugs evenly with a kitchen knife and cutting board. We recommend a large chef’s knife, but any should do so long as it is sharp. 

Be sure to not overdo the chops and end up with a powdery mess, as we’ve advised with other methods. And of course – watch your fingers!

Mortar and pestle 

On the theme of using cooking utensils, a mortar and pestle can get the job done. Many people use theirs to crush up herbs and spices, so why not add weed to the mix? As with the others, be sure to clean yours well before and after use to avoid any basil in your joint or weed scraps in your dinner. 

This method works best for weed that is on the drier side, so if you can let it air out for a bit you may have a better experience. 

Coins and a pill bottle or film canister

This less hands-on approach involves adding a coin to a pill bottle or film canister alongside your bud and shaking it like a polaroid picture. Don’t shake too hard though, as it’s easy to accidentally make powdered weed. Check on your bud every few shakes and stop when you’ve reached the desired consistency. 

Benefits to owning a grinder

Sure, you can get away with using these methods of grinding weed without a grinder, or heck, just sticking a whole nug in your pipe (we don’t recommend this) but let us try to convince you further. The ultimate benefit to owning a grinder is the collection of kief. 

Quality grinders come with a kief collection compartment where all of the tiny compounds lost during the grinding process go. Grinding weed naturally causes some trichomes to fall off, and rather than just disappear into a crevice, they fall through a screen and stay safe in the kief compartment. 

Eventually, your kief compartment can be filled with powdery trichomes just waiting to be used. It will be a fine powder, much finer than you’d want to grind for your nugs. But this is perfect for compressing into hash or just sprinkling over your next bowl or joint. This will take your high to the next level, as kief packs a lot of potency from the trichomes. 

This compartment can also be a lifesaver if you are low on or out of weed. If you’ve been collecting kief for a while, you should have a decent collection to use in between stocking up at our Fitchburg pot shop. 

Just be sure to choose a grinder that has a kief collection compartment. Not all grinders have one. 

Stop by The Healing Center 

Need weed? We’ve got you covered. Stop by our Fitchburg dispensary for all of your cannabis needs. And if you have any questions, we’re always here to help and direct you to the best products on the market. 

We are a recreational dispensary located in Fitchburg, Massachusetts, serving all guests 21 or over with legal identification. We carry a wide selection of brands with a variety of categories like cannabis flower, concentrates, pre-rolled joints, vaporizer cartridges, edibles, infused drinks, tinctures, and accessories. Give us a follow on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter.

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