6 Hacks To Grind Weed Without Grinder

Many people think grinding is the process of chopping up cannabis into almost a powder form, in order to easily roll up a joint or spliff and have it burn away evenly without any of those dreaded air pockets.

Nothing could be further from the truth. Well, in all fairness, it is partially true.

Rolling up a great joint could almost be considered an art form. If you observe proficient tokers, you will quickly realise they grind their weed before even putting it in the grinder itself.

“Wait…what? Grinding before using the grinder? Does that even make sense?”

Absolutely, yes!

People pre-grind their weed manually to remove unwanted and un-smokeable content like the smallest stems, the odd seed, or excessive amounts of untrimmed sugar leaves. The good stuff will then be put into the grinder to quickly and conveniently crumble it all and roll up a pleasant-tasting and evenly burning joint.

But, what happens if you do not have a grinder, or for some reason need to grind a large quantity of weed? Let's explore some options.

THE HAND-GRIND

The age-old technique, and the one you should master before anything else. It is terribly simple and effective, but often under-looked as it seems so basic. This is the preferred method for the casual smoker, and need not involve extra paraphernalia.

Start by making a bowl-like shape with one for your hands. Place a nice little nug of your favourite strain inside this “bowl”. Start working the bud with your other hand, separating and crumbling the weed into smaller bits. As the bud opens, you will immediately start feeling little branches (or the odd seed) as they prickle your fingertips. Pick these out and throw them away.

While doing this, remove any excess sugar leaves you may spot. Just be sure to inspect thoroughly, as, for the most part, the inner leaflings shooting out of the bud will contain a great amount of resin, which makes for a great smoke.

Once you are satisfied with your nice fluff of weed, you can proceed to perform a final chop-up with your fingernails for a nice, even, cotton-like finish.

This will make for better-tasting and evenly burning joints.

THE PESTLE AND MORTAR

Not the best of options, and will probably require extra dry bud to give this method some credibility. But if such is the case, it is a quick way to grind cannabis. Pre-grinding is definitely required as you may not notice the squashing of a seed if one happens to pop up.

If the weed is not dry enough, you will end up with a mushy paste as the resin glands are squashed against the remaining water content and chlorophyll.

THE SHAKER (BOTTLE AND COIN) METHOD

A shaker is a musical instrument that (big surprise) produces a shaking sound. This is a very similar homemade contraption which works great to chop up some weed on-the-go, while doubling as a storage container.

Remember those old film rolls that came in handy, round plastic containers with a lid? You will need that or something quite similar. Drop you bud inside, along with a coin or two. Now start shaking away like you belong in a pop band.

The coins will do all the chopping for you as you pump up for that smoke.

THE SHOT GLASS AND SCISSORS

In any situation where you do not wish to use your hands, be it due to freshly painted fingernails or unwanted trichome residues, the shot glass and scissor technique does a great job.

Stuff your shot glass with weed, and with some scissors, start chopping away. The cool thing is, should you happen to find one of those pesky little branches, you will immediately feel the added pressure. With some practice, you can grab hold of it and remove it easily.

THE CHEF’S KNIFE

Imagine a situation where you have a significant gathering of like-minded individuals who want to get high, but no one brought a grinder. A typical scenario is multiple people grinding away manually, but this can be far from efficient.

Simply use the old culinary technique of chopping finely minced onions before they go into the pan—but instead of onions and a pan, use tasty buds and a bong, vaporizer, or joint.

There is nothing fancy about it, but it does the job fairly quickly for a bigger entourage. Quickly (and manually) pre-grind all the undesirables out of the mix, and bundle it all on a wooden board just like you would regular kitchen herbs. Then, like a chef or like Grandma, use a sharp knife to chop away!

If you can pull off the gourmet chef high-velocity mince, you will be the weed-ninja sensation of any party.

THE COFFEE GRINDER

This one takes it up a notch considerably. It is also part of an old smuggler’s trick. Use either a coffee grinder or regular blender to very quickly and efficiently grind your weed for consumption.

Be careful not to overdo it. Quality blenders have extremely sharp blades and insanely fast rotation speeds. You do not necessarily want to reduce your weed to a powder, unless of course, the idea is to cook with it.

This is a great option to prepare large quantities of ready-to-smoke stash to take to festivals or parties.