Flower Mill Next Gen Premium Stainless Steel Weed Grinder Review

Flower Mill knocked it out of the park with their Next Gen Premium series in the quality department overall, especially the aforementioned stainless steel version(s) that we reviewed here. You can’t go wrong with an aluminum one if you want to save a few bucks, but the heft and feel is noticeably nicer on the latest high end models. It all starts with the lovely unboxing experience as Flower Mill’s grinders come in a neat cardboard tube that’s pretty standard but classy nonetheless. 

The grinder body itself is a sleek, beautiful matte black with their logo in gray adorned on the lid. Inside you’re greeted with their unique mill plate that is a thick stainless steel disc with holes drilled into it as opposed to triangular teeth like every other grinder you’ve probably ever used. More on that in the next section. For good measure, it comes standard with a helpfully removable stainless steel kief sifting screen. That way you can choose if you want to collect the kief or keep it with the flower you’re milling. The lid is also unique as it has geometric grooves that provide the actual downward action that combined with the included size #3 mill plate, make for a polished product top to bottom. Our expectations were high going into the review after we had so many of our friends recommend the original Flower Mill grinders, and in the Next Gen which we’re happy to say were fully met in the quality category.

It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say this is one of if not the best weed grinders we’ve encountered on the market today functionality-wise. At the end of the day, grinders are supposed to perform a simple task for a very long time: grind up your cannabis well regardless of bud density or moisture level within normal ranges without needing constant cleaning.

It does require applying their Mill Wax around the edges of the grinder body for optimal long term stick-free usage however, which is something we weren’t used to and that may turn some users off. For the performance the Next Gen Premium offers though, it’s a small price to pay ($6 extra for an endless supply and the equivalent effort of applying chapstick to your grinder). Thankfully it’s all natural too as the listed ingredients are simply hemp and beeswax. Nice. It also comes standard with a stainless steel kiefing screen, which we prefer so you can not only get some magic trichome dust to sprinkle on your doink or bowl, but it reduces how often you need to clean the chamber as well. 

The mechanic Flower Mill employs one that instead of shearing the buds against sharp teeth like a normal grinder would, the grooved top plate that’s attached into the lid effortlessly grinds up weed of any nug structure or density with minimal effort through the mill plate. The standard #3 middle sized mill plate it came with was pretty much perfect for everything we sampled packing, including joints, blunts, and bowls.

They sell extra milling plates ranging from #1 (very fine) to #5 (extra coarse) which we intend to test at some point, but frankly unless you are shooting for something really specific the one it comes with is perfect for virtually all use cases. With the #3 “Medium” plate, all the strains of flower we tried ground up a bit fluffier than what we’re used to, which is the key that makes the Flower Mill series so great. Their technology seems to increase surface area of the resulting ground buds which may actually improve airflow when smoking as opposed to breaking up nugs by hand or with a cheaper grinder. 

Truth be told, we've been using the grinder non stop amongst our team for about a month now, so the durability question is one we’ll have to circle back to in the future for a more comprehensive update. Early indications however are very positive as there has been really no discernable wear and tear, but like we mentioned before, the Flower Mill Mill Wax product is a must and is meant to be applied between cleanings. It’s easy to let your grinder get gnarly and it does take a little effort to clean one properly, but when you’re using a Cadillac-level accessory in its category, keeping up with the maintenance is a good idea. We’ll report back in a couple months with any updated thoughts here after we push some more ounces through it of different strains.

While we’ve already covered quite a bit of ground and discussed its design in detail, it’s worth reiterating that Flower Mill grinders use a unique style of actual milling to gently shred your buds. This series really is aesthetically pleasing and ergonomic as well. It feels good to twist and turn; even our arthritic grandparents would have no effort milling up some dense, sticky buds. Who hasn’t put a not-perfectly-dried nug in their grinder and realized they were about to get a hand workout in? Not with these grinders. The spindle in the middle that anchors the milling plate and top rotor flutes makes for light work, although the 2” size we tested here is only good for about 2 grams at a time. If you want to do an eighth per load, the 2.5” option would be your best bet. 

Technically our user experience with this being our first Flower Mill product started with the ordering process on their website, which was simple enough and spam-free. The Next Gen Premium 2” showed up quickly and we put it to work the same day. Luckily for our team, grinders aren’t supposed to be a terribly technical product to review and we’re pleased to report that from clicking checkout to having rolled up a bunch of stuff and blazed many bowls from herb put through it, the UX factor is on point. Even though it’s just a grinder, it’s a really good one. The aroma factor of grinding up weed is noticeably better compared to by hand, and at a fraction of the effort (not to mention minimal sticky finger considerations). After passing it around to a few team members, we all decided we needed to just get our own.

Clocking in at $75 without any accessories or other milling plate sizes, the Flower Mill Next Gen Premium 2” stainless steel grinder isn’t the most expensive option on the market but it certainly isn’t the cheapest, either. Flower Mill follows in the footsteps of other premium USA-based cannabis and herb grinder brands such as Spacecase and Calicrusher but offers a completely different style of grinding mechanic compared to any other option we’ve tried to date. For comparison, a similar black, 4 piece Spacecase 2” grinder runs $99 as of writing, and around 4x the price of cheapo Chinese-made grinders on Amazon.  

While these latest Next Gen Premium Flower Mill brand grinders range from $65 to $95 depending on size and metal, chances are it’s a product for folks that demand a quality product they plan to use for a long time. Flower Mill grinders are available in either a 2” or 2.5” diameter as well as in aluminum or stainless steel and only come in their signature black color. They also sell an additional $6 Mill Wax accessory that keeps everything running smoothly (which we recommend grabbing), so your out the door cost is going to run you a few Andrew Jacksons at a minimum. The summary here though is that even though they’re a tad expensive, you definitely get what you pay for.

If you enjoy smoking flower and especially if you’re partial to joints or blunts, Flower Mill’s latest Next Gen Premium series of grinders are worth your hard earned smackaroos. We think that the stainless steel models are worth the increase in price, and that if you need a bigger capacity than the 2” we reviewed here (around 2 grams per load), upgrading to their 2.5” size is probably worth the extra $20. We’ve had all kinds of brands over the years and are confident that after using this Flower Mill grinder, it’s going to be hard to return to even the really nice teeth-designed options we’ve used up until now. Why not treat yourself to something new in this department? We’re glad we did.