Icy Trance Grinder Leaf: 40 mm of metal with a pollen filter
The finish is the first thing you notice. The whole outside of this Fire Flow shifts through an oil-slick gradient, running from blue into purple and pink depending on how the light hits it. The lid carries a leaf in relief, ringed by gold scrollwork on a purple ground. Because the artwork is struck into the metal rather than printed on top of it, it does not wear away the way a print does after a few months in a coat pocket.
Under that lid sits a plain, solid grinder. The top two pieces form the grinding chamber, with diamond-shaped teeth that mesh the moment you twist the halves against each other. Below them sits the pollen filter: anything fine enough drops through and collects in the bottom chamber, so you keep it separate instead of losing it among the rest. The lid is held by a magnet, which means there is no thread to seize up. A band of small dimples runs around the lower rim, giving you grip with dry or sticky fingers.
What 40 mm means in practice
At 40 mm this is one of the smaller grinders. That is a deliberate trade-off: it fits a trouser pocket and disappears in a bag, but you grind a smaller amount at a time than you would in a 55 or 60 mm model. Anyone regularly grinding for several people has more room in a larger size. If what you want is something that travels everywhere and still has a pollen filter, this is exactly the compromise.
Use and upkeep
- Take the lid off and lay your dried herb between the teeth, not on top of the centre post.
- Put the lid back on and turn it back and forth a few times. Stubborn material goes easier if you hold the grinder upside down while you do it.
- Open the grinding chamber: your ground material is sitting there.
- Whatever drops through the filter gathers in the bottom chamber. It fills slowly, so look in on it now and then.
A grinder starts turning heavily over time because resin builds up between the teeth. Tap it out, brush the teeth with an old toothbrush and clear the filter carefully. If there is visible residue, rinse the loose parts in warm water and let them dry completely before stacking them back up, and try not to leave the magnet sitting in water.
Other grinders at Avalon Magic Plants
Next to this Icy Trance, Avalon Magic Plants stocks the Gold 420 Ufo Grinder from Fire Flow, a four-part model of 60 mm in antique gold. For something simpler there is the Grinder wooden classic, made of wood with metal pins, or the Grinder the Bulldog 3 part. Everything ships in discreet packaging.
