The TumbleWeed Grinder Review

I smoke a lot of spliffs. I mean a lot. I also smoke a decent number of joints. That means I need a grinder that can keep up with my lofty smoking habits. The good people over at SpeakEasy Innovations out of Santa Cruz California recently sent me their new Tumbleweed grinder to check out. I have to say, this thing chops it up.

Look What Rolled Into Town

I’ve only reviewed one other grinder, and you can check it out here on Stuff Stoners Like. It was the Phoenician Grinder, and that beast of a weed slicer costs between $115 and $125. Sure it is a dope cannabis grinder, but let’s be honest. Unless you are making some serious bank, you probably don’t want to spend more than a hundred bucks on a grinder. The folks over at SpeakEasy Innovations have you covered. For between $35 to $85 you can get yourself a Tumbleweed or a PocketTumbler.

So what is the TumbleWeed? They call it the grater grinder, and for good reason. Open up the TumbleWeed and you are greeted by a gaping maw of shiny metallic blades. Not teeth mind you. Razor sharp blades. SpeakEasy Innovations website says when you align the chambers properly to remove the lid you will see what they call the “Crush Free Loading Zone.” This allows the grinder to do its job much better by slicing, serrating, and cutting through the cannabis.

TumbleWeed Pros

Their patent pending cutting system gets the cannabis just the right consistency for easy rolling and run free smoking. They say this allows more of the trichomes to stay on the plant material, rather than get ground and smooshed into the side of the grinder, or caught down in the kief catch.

You’ll love the TumbleWeed if you prefer a medium to larger cut to roll with. I like to describe it as a thick consistency. You can see what I mean from the picture below. I lean more towards the thinner consistency personally, but that’s all going to be user preference. When I roll a spliff, I put down a pinch of Danish Export tobacco, then some ground up cannabis, then a little more tobacco to help it burn more evenly.

With the TumbleWeed, you get a thicker consistency that burns nice and evenly regardless of how you smoke it. Spliff or joint, it burns nice. It definitely doesn’t grind the cannabis into a powder like some grinders tend to. But I think that also has a lot to do with the type of flower that’s going into the grinder. We’re not exactly smoking on last years outdoor crop, if you know what I mean.

Consistent Consistency

I’ve put a few different buds into this one, and it seems like no matter what I put in there, the grinding action is super smooth. You would probably have to toss some seriously dense PGR type weed in there to even think about clogging it up. Granted it’s a new grinder that hasn’t been all gunked up by having pounds of weed tossed through it yet, but the blades feel like they will cut through just about anything with minimal effort.

Personally, I like the consistency I get out of my cheap black grinder. I don’t remember where I got it, or who it’s made by, but I’ve had it for a really long time and it’s never done me wrong. Although it does just crush and mash up the cannabis, so every now and then I have to take a knife to it so it spins easier. But if you are grinding up a lot of joints and need something bigger for the home base, the Tumbleweed is a great choice. It definitely seems to keep more trichomes on the plant material. I’ve checked the catch a few times and there’s not much in it. We’ll see how that goes as I use it more.

TumbleWeed Woes

Since I like to keep my reviews as honest as possible, we’re going to talk about a couple of issues I did notice while using it. It seems the Tumbleweed tends to get some material stuck in the grooves where it locks into place, but that’s an issue I see with every grinder I’ve ever used, so I wouldn’t really consider it an issue, more of a heads up. Hey you, keep your grinder clean and it’ll work better!

When I roll, I like to use raw rolling tips. The edge of one of the books works perfectly for cleaning out the grinder grooves. As long as you do this routinely, it shouldn’t build up to the point where you would need to scrape it with a knife or something. If it gets too out of control, just soak it in some isopropyl alcohol or ethanol and it should come clean overnight.

As with most things in life, the way you take care of it makes all the difference. I like to keep mine clean around the edges so it doesn’t get stuck together. This makes spinning it nice and smooth. Keeping the grooves and notches clean helps it slice nice and easy.

The other thing I noticed, and maybe it’s just an issue with mine, but tiny pieces of metal tend to flake off and find their way onto your hands and into the material you are rolling up. If you look at the picture above, you’ll see a small piece of metal. This was one of the larger pieces I found.

What’s a Little Aluminum Between Friends?

It’s probably not enough to cause any serious long term problems, but you purists out there might not enjoy finding tiny bits of what I assume is aluminum in the weed you’re smoking. I know we’ve all smoked out of our fair share of aluminum soda cans, but the less contaminants we introduce into our body, obviously the better. Again, not a huge issue, but something I noticed, so I thought I would include it.

I’ve been simply picking out the larger pieces I see. Hopefully it’s just a problem with mine and not a larger manufacturing issue. I messaged SpeakEasy Innovations on Instagram, and when they get back to me about it I will update this post.

Other than that the only other downside I really see if the size. It’s the perfect at home grinder for sure, but if you are on the go a lot like I am, it might be a bit much to carry with you all the time. But they also offer the smaller PocketTumbler if you need a smaller version. You can follow SpeakEasy Innovations here on Instagram and hit them up if you have any questions. I’m also always happy to answer any questions on any of the gear I review. Just send me a DM on Instagram and we’ll chat.