Top 3 Pollen Presses & Buyer Guide: What Is a Pollen Press and How To Use It

When it comes to growing your own weed, there’s quite a bit of learning that comes with the doing. Along the way, there’s been much to learn about the different strains of marijuana to grow, how to make sure your plants get the right nutrients, the right amount of sunlight, air circulation, and more.

Pollen presses are yet another page to add to your book of knowledge. Specifically, what are they? And how are they used?

Before we delve into that further, however, let’s familiarize ourselves quickly with the top three pollen presses on the market today.

T-Handle Pollen Press Hash Compress 3.5” Height Metal Alloy

Tough, polished aluminum construction and a T-handle design are the key features of this easy-to-use pollen press. Three and one-half inches long with a 2.5-inch hangle length, it also comes with a tincture cap.

Pros

The T-handle type construction is easiest to use if you don’t have a lot of strength.

Cons

They are not the easiest to clean and parchment paper or oil may be required if you want to avoid wasting material.

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Grindhouse Steel Hammer Style Pollen Press – Various Sizes (Medium 4″)

Lightweight (just .65 pounds) and of sturdy 100 percent stainless steel construction, this hammer-style press with burnt-on Grindhouse logo is also available in small and large sizes. It is easy to use. Just insert kief into the cylinder, replace the rod and hammer.

Pros

Affordably priced and easy to use, it only takes four or five strikes with the hammer to make your hash.

Cons

This press cannot be used without the mallet. Additionally, the rod is tight inside the cylinder but not quite long enough to push the pellets out.

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G-LEAF Pollen Press Heavy Duty with Gift Box Hard Metal Stainless Steel T Shape Handle

The stainless steel construction of this 1-inch diameter, 7-inch tall, heavy-duty press resists galling and is comfortable to use. Packaged in an attractive box, it is perfect for gift-giving.

Pros

In the course of using the press, the bottom will loosen, but the manufacturer has prepared for this inevitability by providing an L-shaped accessory tool to assist in tightening.

Cons

While the product has received many positive product reviews on Amazon, there are also several claims that the threads stripped out after only a few uses.

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Buying Guide of the Top 3 Pollen Presses

Chances are if you smoke weed, you’ve invested in a weed grinder. Each time you grind your herbs, you’ll find trichomes, aka “kief” collected in the bottom chamber. This material contains an enhanced amount of THC as well as other cannabinoids, so it’s not something you want to discard.

Once you have enough of this kief, you can gather it up and smoke it. However, it’s much easier to handle kief–and less wasteful!–if you compress it into hard coins or pellets.

What Is a Pollen Press?

Pollen presses are simple devices used to form loose kief into pellets, disks, or other solid shapes. Manual devices are commonly available in either a T-handle or hammer design with a chamber to insert raw kief.

They are typically constructed of high-grade materials such as aluminum or stainless steel. Hydraulic pollen presses are also available and often used to make much larger brick-sized units.

Why Is It Called a Pollen Press?

The resin glands or trichomes on your buds, the ones that give them their sparkly, magical appearance are also responsible for giving you that sparkly, magical euphoria. High in THC and other cannabinoids, they are not to be wasted.

Trichomes removed from cannabis plants are referred to as pollen or kief. Once dried, kief can be compressed into hash.

The use of the term “pollen press” is more of a marketing tool. While “kief press” or “hashish press” would be just as valid a moniker, the name doesn’t necessarily sit well with some governments that frown on anything even remotely related to drug paraphernalia.

Simply put, pollen is a term that is easier to swallow. It makes one think about happy, buzzy bees and certainly, a pollen press creates an end product that makes its users happy, buzzy individuals. As the saying goes, a rose by any other name …

What are Pollen Presses Used For?

Simply put, pollen presses are used to turn loose, powdery kief into manageable, easy to store, and easier to smoke coins as they are generally referred to. They are also used to compress loose-leaf weed into cakes or pellets.

What Are the Benefits of Using a Pollen Press?

Trichomes? Kief? Pollen? No matter what you like to call the tiny little THC-potent crystals on your buds, they tend to be powdery and subject to floating off in the wind. What a waste!

Compressing precious trichomes into pellets or discs will help ensure much less is squandered.

Kief in coin form is also easier to handle. It takes up less space than it would in looser form, and because it can be stored more easily in air-tight containers and stored in a cool, dry place, it enjoys a longer shelf-life as well.

Disks and pellets are also a whole lot easier to package and ship.

Here’s another cool thing about pollen presses. When you press kief, you can customize the resultant disks with a stamped image or logo that makes it easy for companies or users to recognize their favorite brand.

Do you like to blend your hashish with other ingredients? It’s a lot easier to figure out portions when working from a disk or pellet. Potency is also better preserved when kief is compressed into disk form.

How to Use a Pollen Press

Whether you collect kief manually or with a weed grinder, you’ll have to wait until you’ve collected enough to make it worth turning into a solid form. Patience, my friend!

Once you’ve reached that milestone, make sure the kief is dry so you don’t end up with moldy, unusable hash.

There are different types of presses, so here we’ll explain how to use one of the most common–the T-bar style.

Simply place the pin plate across the inside of the base cap and then attach the cap to the tube’s bottom. Then, using a funnel, pour your dried kief into the tube. Unwind the T-bar, then affix the top cap to the tube’s top.

Gently tap the pollen press, then manually turn the T-bar clockwise, winding it down until the bar gets tight. It’s important not to use any mechanical tools to do this.

Once it is tight, set it aside for at least eight hours but not more than two days, tightening the T-bar every hour or so. Afterward, open the cap and pull it up until the shaft is out of the tube.

The puck may be stuck to the shaft, or it may still remain in the tube. If it’s still inside, open the base cap and take the tube out. If you find the puck stuck to the T-bar shaft or the pin plate insert, use a plastic knife to break it free.

Things you should consider before buying a pollen press

Buyer beware! Not all pollen presses are created equal, so when you start your shopping, be sure to get one that best suits your needs and your budget.

Size and Weight

Unless you’re planning or already are a big-time weed grower or producer, it’s best to purchase a pollen press that is lightweight, portable, and compact. Why make a big investment when a smaller, less expensive but quality press can churn out plenty of coin-sized pucks?

Quality Build

When in the market for a pollen press, don’t skimp on quality. Check the specs! Make sure the press you purchase is made out of high-grade materials like steel or aluminum.

If you’re not sure where to start, spend a little time on Amazon. Not only will you find helpful recommendations, but the site also provides plenty of customer reviews and feedback that can help guide your decision.

Ease of Use

You put a lot of work into growing and harvesting your weed, so when it comes time to buy a press, choose one that’s a snap to use, clean, and reassemble. This is another area where Amazon’s star rating system and customer feedback can provide helpful guidance.

Cleaning and Maintenance

Cleaning and maintaining your equipment is a must, so when you purchase a press, be sure to choose one that is easy to clean with ISO alcohol or other tools. Pollen press manufacturers often suggest helpful cleaning/maintenance products, so when you’re checking out the prices for equipment, check on the prices and availability of those products also.

Pollen Press FAQs

Why Make Hash?

Once dried, kief becomes powdery and not all that easy to handle. When you heat and compress kief into hashish, you end up with an easier-to-use, more potent product that burns slower and is easier to keep and store.

How Do You Make Hash?

You never want to waste the trichomes of your weed plants. These are the resin glands that contain the potent THC responsible for making your high the great experience it is.

These trichomes are most densely packed in the base or calyx of the flower making it the most coveted part of the plant. Weed is ready to harvest when the calyxes swell, and you’ll likely end up with the sticky substance all over your hands when handling them. Make sure you save it!

There are a few ways to make hash, and it begins by separating the trichomes from weed plants. You can press it by hand. You can also mechanically separate it using water and ice.

If you want a stronger hash with a tidier result, you can use a pollen press and use a combination of heat and force to compress raw hash into small pellets, pucks, bricks, or coins.

What Are the Benefits of Using a Pollen Press?

• Less waste
• Easier to store and handle
• Easier to pack and ship
• Lets you add your logo or a unique design for marketing purposes
• Disk or pellet forms make hash easier to blend
• Hash in disk or pellet form is denser, stronger, and more potent

Final Thoughts

No matter the size or scale of an operation, a grower or producer worth his salt does not waste product.

A pollen press is one more tool in the toolbox for making the most of your marijuana plants, and while it can take some finesse to get proficient using one, with a little time and effort you’ll soon be churning out hash coins with relative ease. Good luck!