Flower Mill has finally made their debut and completely shaken the cannabis accessory game. Flower Mill grinders are some of the best grinders out there right now, offering a one-of-a-kind artisanal milling experience that is sure to elevate your smoke session and get you back into the joys of smoking flower. We tried it for ourselves and were then lucky enough to chat with Brent Stevens of Flower Mill to pick his brain on the product and talk about what we love about it. Here’s everything you need to know about Flower Mill grinders.
What is Flower Mill?
Flower Mill is a company founded by a team of engineers. “They’re aftermarket car guys and build high-end machines. Since they have a machine shop and plenty of equipment, they wanted to experiment with a few different designs for milling flower.” Brent said.
At first, they filed the grinder’s teeth down to something similar to a shark’s fin, which ended up catching the herb too much and shredding it to a pulp. But after running through a few prototypes, they struck genius. They traded in the teeth for a flat rotor, and a traditional grinding experience for a one-of-a-kind milling experience.
“When I met them, they had 30 prototypes,” Brent says. “A year later John, one of the partners, called me – and I had been waiting for their call. I jumped on a plane as soon as I could, and got it patented. At that time it was called “Crown”. So then we started to work on building a brand around the product to get it to where it is today.”
Flower Mills no longer go by the name “Crown” these days, but the current design is not too far off from the original one. It has been made more efficient over time. Now Flower Mill offers a 3 and 4-chamber grinder featuring the unique rotor design and a ton of different accessories that can alter the consistency of your herb. Best of all, they come in both stainless steel and aluminum to suit every budget.
Flower Mill Styles
While the general concept of the Flower Mill design is consistent down the board, they have developed three separate versions to cater to all sorts of different preferences. The three main styles are the Mini Flower Mill, the Standard Flower Mill, and the Premium Flower Mill. While they all work the same, each one has its own pros and cons.
The Premium Flower Mill is the most impressive as it’s capable of handling larger amounts of flower than its counterparts. More importantly though, it’s highly modifiable. The premium comes with additional milling plates that give you more control over how coarsely or how finely you grind up your herb. You can even upgrade yours to hold an additional chamber for kief collection.
The Standard Flower Mill however is still great for most uses. The original design is small and mighty, allowing you to process an eighth in one go. More importantly, it can also be customized with plates — they’re just sold separately. If you want to collect kief, it’s also an option with the Standard Flower Mill.
The Mini Flower Mill is ideal if you need something small, portable and discreet. The small size can still hold up to two grams of herb and mill it to perfection. The only real difference is that it can’t be customized with special plates or an extra kief collector.
What makes Flower Mill weed grinders different?
There’s a lot to love about Flower Mill’s patented milling design. According to Brent, “milling weed is like making artisan bread and pasta. It’s a completely different process, and it’s more natural. Instead of eviscerating the material, it gently separates it from the stems and protects its integrity so you can enjoy the better flavors and consistencies for whatever you end up smoking.”
Through the process of milling, you’re left with a more consistent and even product. Flower that comes out of the Flower Mill weed grinder is genuinely lighter and fluffier, so it burns easier, ashes better, and lasts longer. More importantly, the fluffiness makes it possible to get more smoking material with less product. “You don’t even have to pick off the stems, you can place the whole bud in there and the stem will be left on top. This naturally lets the product and bud break apart on its own,” Brent said.
Aside from the unique milling aspect of Flower Mill grinders, they’re also built differently. The magnetic design makes it so that you only have to turn it a quarter of the way to separate the pieces. “That engineering costs more. The fine tuning, and detail put into the design. But that’s what makes a quality product.”
One feature you won’t find on a Flower Mill grinder is a kief collector, though. Without the screen and extra chamber, there is more room in the grinder for milling flower. Since the Flower Mill is milling buds anyway, most of the trichomes remain intact and attached to the flower pieces, so it’s illogical to have one in the design. However, for people who make hash out of their kief, Flower Mill does offer a catch attachment that will collect kief if you’d like to.
All in all, it makes it possible to customize the consistency of your material, which is a huge advantage over every other grinder on the market. More importantly, they’re easy to clean, last forever, and are exceptionally simple to use.
Pros and Cons of Flower Mill Grinders
Pros of using a Flower Mill:
- Consistent grind: Flower mill grinders break up the cannabis buds into a uniform consistency, making it easier to roll joints or pack a bowl.
- Portable: Flower mill grinders are small and compact, making them easy to carry around.
- Durable: Metal grinders are typically more durable than plastic or acrylic grinders, and can last for many years with proper care.
- Easy to clean: No metal teeth within the Flower Mill makes it a breeze to clean.
- Versatile: The Flower Mill design makes it easy to swap out rotors to give you more control over how large or small you break your cannabis down into.
Cons of using a Flower Mill:
- Price: Flower mill grinders are often more expensive than other types of grinders, such as acrylic or plastic grinders.
- Pieces sold separately: In most cases, a Flower Mill comes with one mill plate. You may need to purchase additional chambers, mill plates, rotor keys, and accessories to get more control over your grinding experience.
How do you use a Flower Mill grinder?
While milling sounds like a complicated process, the Flower Mill grinder makes it easy. Conventional grinders require bigger buds to be pre-ground and have the stems removed for a good finished product, but the Flower Mill allows you to throw the whole flower, stem and all, into the chamber. Since Flower Mill utilizes a rotor with 25-50 shears, you can grind more weed at once.
All you need to do is add 2-3 large flower clusters into the Flower Mill grinder. From there, the flat rotor adds torque to the bud while you twist it with practically no downward pressure. Inside, the herb will crumble to the appropriate size while it’s sifted through the grind screen. While it may take several twists to grind flowers in a standard grinder, the Flower Mill only needs a few, making it a much faster option for a superior grind. More importantly, there is no diffuser screen for your bud to get caught in, as is the case with traditional grinders.
Are Flower Mill grinders easy to clean?
Another major perk of the Flower Mill grinders is how easy they are to clean. Standard grinders are prone to getting gunked up easily, especially in their teeth, and require tedious cleaning that goes as far as the nickel and freezer trick. However, with regular maintenance, your Flower Mill grinder can mill your weed indefinitely. After running a ton of product through it or after about 3 months, you should thoroughly clean your grinder.
To do it, all you have to do is take the whole thing apart and let the pieces soak in a sealed container with 91-99% isopropyl alcohol for about fifteen minutes. After that, you can use a toothbrush, cloth or cotton swab to rub off any remaining resin. From there all you have to do is rinse the parts with clean water, dry them off and reassemble the grinder.
How to get the most out of your Flower Mill weed grinder
If you’re interested in trying the Flower Mill grinder for yourself, there are a few things you should know. While all of the Flower Mill base models are exceptional and go above and beyond, you can take them a step further with the myriad of Flower Mill accessories available on their website.
Ring Attachment — If you use a 4-chamber Flower Mill grinder, you can use the optional Ring accessory to convert it into a 3-piece grinder. While that may seem a little counter productive, it actually makes it possible to mill larger batches since you’ll have more volume available within the chamber.
Catch Attachment — The Catch attachment can be used with both grinder styles and allows you to collect kief. It can be threaded into your grinder easily and utilizes a food-grade stainless steel mesh screen.
Premium Expansion Pack — The Premium Expansion Pack is the creme de la creme of Flower Mill accessories. It makes it possible to swap out your screens to offer four different finished milling sizes, for use in all of your favorite cannabis provisions. You can use each screen for ultra fine to coarse sizes, perfect for all of your favorite smoking methods. The expansion pack comes with 4 interchangeable screens as well as a stainless steel center rod and screw to help you swap between two screens at one time.
Coarse Screen — The Coarse Screen attachment makes it possible to mill your herb into larger pieces, which is great for bowls, blunts and bongs. It comes with the premium expansion pack but is also sold as a standalone piece for its convenience and durability.
Alternatives to Flower Mill
While there’s a lot of great stuff to say about Flower Mill grinders, the mill style grinder isn’t exactly a new thing. Milling technology can be found in coffee grinders and kitchen grain millers that can also be used for cannabis. However, Flower Mill is the first miller designed specifically for weed, though there is one other alternative out there making similar designs. The STR8 Flower Miller utilizes the same milling technology along with a magnetic lid, food grade stainless steel, and aircraft-grade aluminum casing for durability for a similar price. STR8’s version of the mill grinder comes with a few different designs and colors, and comes with a rotor key for the easy swapping of milling plates. All in all, it’s a pretty good alternative and comes with a design element. The only major downside is that it’s more expensive than the original Flower Mill by a few bucks.
What’s next from Flower Mill?
As Flower Mill continues to grow, they’re constantly looking for new ways to improve their milling experience. According to Brent, there are a few new products in the works, including the Mini Mill, which is a smaller Flower Mill grinder, and the Rotor Key, which unlocks the rotor for easy cleaning.
At the end of the day, the Flower Mill suite is a lot faster to use and produces a better final product than traditional grinders. We love our Flower Mill and can’t wait to see what the future holds for the company moving forward. It’s one of the best herb grinders available, and at around $100, it’s a fantastic purchase that will serve you for years and years to come, and we highly recommend it.
