There are a lot of fancy weed grinders on the market today. Grinders with blades and bearings and boob jobs. Just kidding about the boob jobs, but the other two features are just as gimmicky (and not nearly as fun to play with).

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 the cool name and reputation, the Santa Cruz Shredder packs several features and luxuries that set it high above almost all the other herb grinders.

Santa Cruz Shredder Review Video

The Santa Cruz Shredder is available at Puffitup, 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 a variety of 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 trichomes remain intact! 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 to not 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 still 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
Ok, that needs an asterisk. There is some very minor maintenance involved with the Santa Cruz Shredder, 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 found on Amazon, etc.

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

Size & Color Options
I realize this is a stretch, but hear me out. Not all grinders come in multiple sizes. Not all grinders come in 2, 3, or 4-piece. 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 HEMP version that is bio-degradable!

The Santa Cruz Shredder is available at Puffitup, 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.