Santa Cruz Shredder is a classic weed grinder that is often the source of copycats and counterfeits. Santa Cruz perfected the classic weed grinder design and refined every element of the interface.

There are many fancy weed grinders on the market today—grinders with blades, bearings, and batteries. The Santa Cruz Shredder doesn’t need any of that fancy stuff. It’s the best at its job – as a weed grinder.

It’s an aluminum-threaded grinder and the only aluminum-threaded grinder on my list of best weed grinders.

The Santa Cruz Shredder is one of the oldest names in modern weed grinders and skateboards – which is probably what originally drew me to their brand.

Beyond its cool name and reputation, the Santa Cruz Shredder offers several features and luxuries that set it apart from most other herb grinders. It produces the nicest result and the nicest feeling experience of any threaded grinder.

The Santa Cruz Shredder set the standard for all other traditional, threaded grinders. But in 2024, modern weed grinders will be threadless and made of stainless steel. Skip to the bottom of the review to see how the Santa Cruz compares to the best modern threadless grinders.

Santa Cruz Shredder Review Video

CLICK HERE to buy directly from Santa Cruz Shredder. It’s also available at Planet of the Vapes and Amazon.

7 Reasons why Santa Cruz Shredder is the Best Weed Grinder

Best Grind Consistency – EVER.
Out of every grinder I’ve ever used, testing with various nugs ranging from moist and sticky to rock hard and dense, the Santa Cruz Shredder produces perfectly fluffy ground weed.
The herb isn’t mutilated, and the trichomes remain intact! It’s fine enough for every dry herb vape and the ideal consistency for smoking, too.

Best Kief Screen
If collecting kief is your calling, The Cruz is the champ. The screen used in the 4-piece Santa Cruz Shredder is the perfect screen. The holes are big enough not to get clogged but not so big that the kief collector fills up with organic leaf matter instead of kief.
In side-by-side tests with other grinders, the Santa Cruz Shredder produced more kief and clogged less while delivering the nicest ground weed.

EASY TO GRIND – The teeth of the Santa Cruz are SHARP AS FUCK and they’re serrated. The SCS doesn’t use the shitty diamond-shaped teeth that cheap weed grinders use; instead, the SCS utilized box-shaped teeth with concave surfaces and serrated edges. This tooth shape stays sharp for years and years and years while giving the grind that wonderful fluffiness that NO OTHER GRINDER CAN MATCH.

NEVER NEEDS CLEANING
Okay, that needs an asterisk. The Santa Cruz Shredder requires some very minor maintenance, but it’s extremely minor compared to other weed grinders. I’ve never needed to soak my Santa Cruz Shredder—instead, I angle the lid in a half-inserted way that scrapes the grinder hash from the lid and lets it fall into the grinder.
Optionally, you can use your fingernail or an alcohol wipe.

Harder Aluminum
Almost all weed grinders are made out of aluminum. Santa Cruz is no exception; however, they use a harder alloy than the others. Their aluminum is harder and more durable than the cheap grinders on Amazon.

Threading, Refined & Polished
The Santa Cruz Shredder’s surfaces are smooth and polished, with subtle textures and knurlings that offer grip and touch feedback. The knurlings and textures are precise and refined. Even the threads are buttery smooth.

Size & Color Options
I realize this is a stretch, but hear me out. Not all grinders come in multiple sizes, or in two, three, or four-piece versions. Not all grinders have multiple color options, finishes, or limited-edition collaborations. Santa Cruz Shredders come in all sorts of sizes and colors—there’s even a biodegradable hemp version!

CLICK HERE to buy directly from Santa Cruz Shredder. It’s also available at Planet of the Vapes and Amazon.

Santa Cruz Shredder vs Brilliant Cut

It’s no secret that I also really like the Brilliant Cut Grinder.

Is it better than the Santa Cruz Shredder? In some ways, yes. In other ways, NO.

The Brilliant Cut grinder has less sizes and won’t go as large while the Santa Cruz Shredder is available in sizes as small as 1.25″ and as large as 3.75″, with 2 sizes in-between.

The Brilliant Cut grinder is also a 3-piece grinder, with no current option for collecting kief. I enjoy having a stash of kief in the kief collector. It’s nice to tap into the kief storage for an occasional SUPER BOWL.

The GRIND CONSISTENCY is another area where the Santa Cruz Shredder still dominates. The ground herb from the Santa Cruz is fluffier and more consistent than ANY of the 3 available Brilliant Cut grind plates.

Oh, Brilliant Cut grind options: The BCG has 3 grind options: fine, medium, and coarse. The Santa Cruz Shredder just has the one.

For what it’s worth, I use the medium BCG plate. It works great in EVERY vape and I don’t bother switching, but I still like the Santa Cruz Shredder grind the best.