15 Creative Ways To Grind Weed Without a Grinder

Ever been caught out of your house, away from your trusty electric grinder, when all you want is to smoke some weed? Perhaps, it’s at a friend’s house, a party is on,and people want to kick it up a notch. When you’re in the moment, and someone has weed, or you yourself have taken some on the go but have forgotten to bring your grinder, are there alternative ways for you to grind your weed?

Well, there are many ways, and they include a mix of manual, mechanical, and electric ways to suit your needs. This article will give you many ideas to have when you’re on the go, but first we’ll cover some of the scenarios where you may be caught unawares without your weed grinder.

The weed will usually come as a plant, with the trichomes and leaves unground and whole. Grinding is important to ensure an elevated smoking experience.

Related Article: What Are The Benefits of Grinding Weed?

Scenarios Where You May Need To Grind Weed Without a Herb Grinder

Scenario 1: At home when your residence is well stocked with other appliances in the kitchen and living room. This means you may use other equipment to grind your weed, but you’ll need to clean it carefully before and afterwards. Some appliances include coffee grinders, pepper grinders, mortar and pestle and

Scenario 2: On the go where you really don’t have many appliances on hand. You may be in the car with your friends, and someone says' hey, why don’t we smoke some? ’, only to find that you don’t have your trusty weed grinder. There are still a couple of options for you to use - some unorthodox grinding methods...

Scenario 3: At a party. You’re having a great time with your mates, and you find that you and your friends are the only ones with weed, and what’s more, there is no grinder in sight. As annoying as it may seem, you have many things at your disposal no matter where the party is taking place.

A Quick Note 

These unorthodox ways to grind weed often require the use of materials found in most households, or small things you can bring with you. But an electric weed grinder is always best for ensuring that weed is perfectly ground for smoking.

Often times, these alternative ways can make a mess, take more time, or can accidentally grind your weed too much.

Of course, some methods will work better than others, and methods such as using a bottle/plastic container and a coin and grinding with your hands may work, but only as a last resort.

Here are Some Creative Ways To Grind Your Weed Without a Weed Grinder

1. The old-fashioned way- with your hands. Weed has been around for a very long time, and the old-fashioned way involves using your hands to carefully pick apart the buds into smaller pieces, then whittle those down into smaller bits until they’re usable. If your weed is sticky, you’ll need to make sure not to compress it too much. If your weed is quite dry, be careful of losing product and making a mess.

2. Coffee grinder- Most coffee grinders include a storage area where the beans are placed, and a collection tube. Place your weed loosely (don’t overwhelm the grinder.) Don’t use buds that are too small or too big as they may get stuck in the grinder and you may be unable to use them for coffee in the future, which can be a real hassle. You also need to be mindful when grinding with a coffee grinder, as weed and coffee beans are two very different things to grind.

3. Mortar and Pestle- Ahhh, the good old manual classic way, if you’re able to make a grinding motion with your hand. A mortar and pestle are found in many kitchens. Some important tips to remember are to let the produce dry out for a few hours outside of a container before you grind it. It’ll make it a lot easier to break down. You also need to clean up before and after, and make sure you don’t grind the product down too hard as it may get messy.

4. Pizza cutter- Seems like a strange kitchen appliance to use, but if you’ve got a good blade, then pizza cutters can definitely be used to grind up weed. You’ll need to use a chopping board as the surface, so you don’t damage any other surfaces. First, hold one end of each bud and begin cutting the opposite end into small slices, running the cutter through the pile repetitively to make the weed into a fine powder. Again, wash before and after to avoid any nasty ‘herb’ surprises on your next pizza night.

5. Knife and chopping board- This will take a lot of delicate work, but as long as you’re careful with your fingers, and you’ve let the product dry out for a few hours before cutting, it should work. Make sure you’ve got a non-serrated blade that’s as sharp as you can find. Make sure you don’t chop it too finely, and you’ll have smokable weed in no time.

6. Cheese grater- By using the smaller openings of a cheese grater, you’ll get an idea of the consistency of the weed you smoke, but make sure you don’t shave off some skin while you’re at it. Again, wash thoroughly to get rid of any residue which can easily get stuck in the grater.

7. Paper bag and hammer- The paper bag will contains all your goods and serve as a non-stick surface, while the force of the hammer does the right job of breaking the buds into tiny particles. It is very useful to dry and cure the weed properly before doing this and use a strong surface like a strong kitchen bench.

8. Coins In A Plastic Container- If you have some heavy coins, you can totally shake them with your product (not too much), close the lid of the container and shake hard. Check your progress every 20 seconds or so because you don’t want to have too powdery a weed to smoke.

9. Shot glasses and scissors- The shot glass is for the product to go into, while the scissors are for... well, you know what to do. Just be careful about snipping the weed too much and making it fall out of the glass. You don’t want to lose half your weed.

10. Credit cards- You can actually use credit cards to slice dry weed with a solid surface. Just make sure the credit card is clean. It will smell like weed afterwards, so remember to thoroughly clean it.
    
    

11. Black pepper grinder
    
    If you don’t have a weed grinder, just head to the kitchen. Empty your pepper grinder (save the corns for later) and load it up with buds. Grind away until it’s all nice and broken down, then pack it into a bowl or vape it up.
    
    Make sure to clean out the grinder's interior before use. This will prevent a harsh, spicy flavor from coming through when you smoke up!
    
    When utilizing a pepper grinder, be sure you're only using properly dried marijuana. Cannabis that is just slightly wet will quickly jam the grinding mechanism.

12.  Blender

    As cool as it looks, this is probably a last resort, so really make sure other alternatives, such as plain old scissors, have been tried first.

    This is most effective with larger quantities of weed, so you'll want to be careful and switch it to the pulse setting where you can control when it blends and limit it to 10 seconds. Do it in short intervals until you get the desired texture.

    Clean out any stems and seeds before blending, as they'll cause issues for the blender's blades.

13. A Mesh Colander and a Spice Bottle.

    This is a somewhat of a DIY weed grinder, but it will undoubtedly work. If you have a fine mesh colander or sieve in your kitchen, you can crush your marijuana using something hard like a spice bottle.

    You'll have all of the kief on one side and all of the weed on the other. The finer ground pushes out through the bottom, while also collecting a little bit of kief on top.

14. Dry Sift With A Screen To Get Kief

    Drying sifting removes the trichomes from cannabis material. These minute glands hold a treasure trove of flavorful terpenes and psychoactive THC. To elevate your mind even higher, sprinkle this powder into joints and bowls.

    Equipment: A dry-sift box or fine mesh screen, ID or credit card, Gloves

    Directions: Put on your gloves. Place your plant material on the mesh screen. Gently shake the screen to agitate and dislodge the trichomes. Use your card to gather the fallen trichomes from the surface below. 

15. Make Your Own Concentrate Resin
    
    If you don't want to spend money on a grinder, but still want a stronger high, consider making your own concentrates. These potent mixtures condense cannabinoids into a delicious and sticky resin for adding to bowls or blunts for an extra kick.
    
    Making concentrates takes longer than simply grinding weed, but the effort is well worth it! See how below.
    
    Equipment: Unbleached Parchment paper, Scraping tool, Hair straighteners (2 if possible, 1 will suffice)
    
    Directions:

• Let the hair straighteners heat at their lowest temperature setting.
• Wrap the buds securely into the parchment paper.
• Place the wrapped bud between the prongs and apply firm pressure for 10 seconds.
• When the concentrate starts to cook or sizzle, release the prongs
• Open up the package, remove the bud, and use a scraper tool to collect your resin.

Related Article: Does Weed Lose Potency After Grinding? | How To Retain Weed's Potency

Bonus Tip: Invest In An Electric Weed Grinder

All these creative ways involve unorthodox items to break up your weed when you’re caught unawares without your weed grinder. However, electric grinders are a great investment because they are usually portable and work way better than the alternative methods listed above.

Mamba grinders are easy to take with you, and you can even pre-grind your weed and keep it in the storage container of the electric grinder. They are hand-held, portable and a hit at parties. 

It is really important to get that perfect, fluffy grind for optimal use and enjoyment of your weed product, and most of these creative ways can’t give you that. Electric grinders are really good to bring with you to social settings, and if it’s helpful, always have your weed placed next to the electric grinder, and then you’ll never forget to bring it.

Wrap Up

These creative ways to grind weed probably include some methods you’ve never heard of, and they can be really good to use when you’re in a pickle and don’t have a traditional weed grinder. Having said that, some methods are sub-par to the normal grinder and you may have trouble with them if you’re out of practice.

We hoped you learned some cool and creative ways to grind weed in this blog post, but remember, electric weed grinders are always the best for grinding your weed to perfection.