How to Grind Cannabis With a Coin: Steps and Times

Short answer

Put a clean coin in the grinder chamber with the flower. Close the lid. Shake for 30 to 60 seconds. The coin breaks the buds into smaller pieces and knocks trichomes off the plant material. Loose kief falls through the screen into the bottom chamber.

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What the coin does

The coin adds weight and hard edges inside the chamber. Each shake hits the flower. Buds break apart at the calyxes. Trichomes, the resin glands on the flower surface, snap off and drop through the screen.

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Result: a coarser grind than a tooth grinder makes, plus a larger kief yield.

Easy Method to Grind Cannabis Manually: A Step-by-Step Guide

What you need

• Two-piece, three-piece, or four-piece grinder with a screen
• One clean coin
• Cannabis flower, 1 g to 3 g
• Isopropyl alcohol for cleaning

US coin sizes: nickel is 5.00 g and 21.21 mm wide. Dime is 2.27 g and 17.91 mm. Quarter is 5.67 g and 24.26 mm. A nickel fits most 2-inch grinders. A quarter is too large for small chambers.

Steps

1. Wash the coin with soap and water. Dry it. Skip coins with rust, corrosion, or heavy tarnish.
2. Break the buds into pieces about the size of a pea. Fill the chamber halfway to two-thirds. Do not pack it.
3. Drop the coin on top of the flower.
4. Close the lid. Shake side to side for 30 seconds.
5. Open the lid. Check the grind. Shake again in 15-second bursts if the pieces are still large.
6. Empty the flower into a container.
7. Scoop the kief from the bottom chamber.

Pill bottle method

No grinder? Put 2 g of flower and one clean coin in a clean pill bottle. Close the cap. Shake for 20 to 40 seconds. The coin does the same job. Ground flower drops to the bottom of the bottle.

Static makes flower stick to plastic. Dry flower and low humidity reduce the problem.

How long to shake

30 to 60 seconds is the common range. Longer shaking adds kief but strips the flower. At 2 minutes, most loose trichomes have left the flower. The joint or bowl then smokes with less flavor.

Limits and problems

• Uneven grind. Coins leave large chunks. Vaporizers need a fine, even grind, so use a grinder plate instead.
• Metal wear. Coins and grinder teeth scrape each other. This wears the coating on the teeth over time.
• Kief on the coin. Resin sticks to the metal. Clean the coin after each session.
• Dirty coins. Coins carry dirt, oils, and metal dust. Never use a coin straight from a pocket.

Cleaning

Rinse the coin with isopropyl alcohol. Wipe it dry. Clean the grinder screen with a brush. Soak the grinder parts in isopropyl alcohol for 30 minutes if the screen clogs.

Kief storage

Kief holds cannabinoids and terpenes. Keep it in a small glass jar away from light and heat. Use it as a bowl topping or press it into hash.