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The Best Kief Boxes:
The Top 5 Kief Boxes That I've Used
Written by: Taylor | Updated: March 14th, 2019
Table of Contents
Anyone who's ground up enough weed in their smoking career knows the value of the kief or "crystals" collected in the bottom most compartment of most grinders. Most stoners can relate that when your stash is at it's lowest, kief can be a god send.
Kief is extremely high in THC, in fact no other part of the cannabis plant contains a higher percentage of THC by weight compared to kief.
Grinding your marijuana is an alright way to begin collecting kief over time, but for those who are more committed to their harvesting of high THC materials a kief box is a necessary accessory.
More kief is obtained with less work using a well made kief box. Using a kief box also ensures no plant matter accidentally makes its way into your powdery fun.
Kief boxes can be very useful to veteran stoners such as myself, who enjoy a little extra kick on-top of their herbs.
Now before I lose those of you who are already well acquainted with what a kief box is and what it does and just want to know the top five I've found after extensive testing, you can click here. I've put at least an ounce through all of these suckers on top of a couple less quality ones and these 5 stand out from the rest.
What Is A Kief Box?
Kief boxes are used to sift the crystals from the exterior of buds by way of shaking. The general principle is that through enough mechanical agitation all of the kief will fall from the bud and then fall through a series of screens/filters that ensure only kief is in the final compartment.
But at this point you might find yourself asking why is this process even desirable in the first place? Why would I want to remove the part of my bud that has the highest amount of THC ahead of time instead of just smoking it as I please?
The answer is quite simple. If you grind your weed, nearly all of the kief has already fallen off already and a significant portion of your yield is now caked in the nooks and crannies of your grinder and on top of that very few grinders have a screen that is small enough to ensure only kief passes through. Finger busting isn't a very good work around either, as that sticky feeling on your fingers is due to the oils on your skin picking up all of the kief.
So, if you use a kief box you can add crystals at your leisure to green bowls you've packed or have snaps of kief alone. If you doubt the power of kief just try to smoke a bowl of it on it's own. The smoke will be a bit harsher than straight bud, but you may find yourself a lot more stoned than usual.
Pictured to the left (or above if you're on a mobile device), you can see my favorite way to enjoy kief. There's nothing quite like a bong toke toped with kief to start the day.
The more industrious among us like to harvest as much kief as possible which can then be converted into a form of hashish. Going from kief to hashish can be done at home relatively simply with the help of the internet and this way you're certain of the safety of the manufacturing process.
After all, smoking your own high powered hash that you made yourself is satisfying beyond belief.
How Do You Use A Kief Box?
The standard kief box design is just a rectangular shaped box.
Marijuana buds are loaded into the top most portion of the box and then the top lid is secured. Higher quality boxes use strong magnets to keep the lid shut to ensure your first shake won't result in your room looking like a weed snowglobe.
Now, the box is shook with authority (not too much force but enough to actually get stuff done) which makes all of the kief fall off of the buds so it may then be forced through the screens until it finally reaches the bottom most compartment.
After this, the kief can be collected from the bottom compartment and then used however you please.
Which Kief Boxes Are Worth The Money?
The two most important attributes of kief boxes are their size and the material they are made of. Good kief boxes tend to be made from a bamboo or wooden exterior and size is simply up to personal preference.
If one wants to use their kief box as secondary bud storage or a rolling surface, the larger ones are well suited. There are however smaller ones for sifting smaller amounts as they come up to be transferred into a bigger receptacle.
I've tried out a few different ones in my day, and here's the ones that have worked best for me:
#1 - RYOT 3x5 Solid Top Screen Box
For those just entering into the world of kief sifting, I do not recommend going all out and buying the largest kief box possible. By weight there is very little kief on every bud that goes through the sifter, so starting small to see if it is even worth your time and effort is highly suggested.
This box by RYOT is about the size of a typical smartphone and retails for around thirty dollars. Both the top and the bottom compartments make use of magnets to ensure a tight seal when in the closed position.
Included in the purchase is a plastic card for scraping that is the perfect hardness to collect kief but not damage the box whatsoever. The micro filament screen results in extremely fine sifting, an exact micron description is not provided but myself and others on the internet compare it to very fine silk. Remember not to mess with the screen itself as much as possible, they tend to be very delicate.
The material used at the bottom of the sifter is lucite, which is stronger than glass but will scratch if the supplied scraping card is not used. Since the outer construction is made from walnut, it also has a very elegant look to it.
#2 - RYOT 4x7 Solid Top Screen Box
So if you liked the smaller RYOT box and want the craftsmanship in a more household size that doubles as a fantastic place to store herbs, the 4''x 7'' box has nearly double the area in square inches inside, I use mine to keep my entire smoking kit together.
If I were to have kids I'd probably keep it tucked away in a closet somewhere when not in use, I don't know why but just the way it looks calls out to me that it should be used for that purpose.
RYOT boxes are unique compared to most sifters because they are designed to function as a humidor as well as a kief box. While on their own alone they are exponentially better than a plastic baggie for keeping herbs fresh, humidor purists would argue a humidity control pack is essential. I don't go for this option, since the herb I get is seldom around long enough for me to even think about it going bad.
This RYOT box isn't just bigger than the last one, the bottom is made from seamless glass as opposed to lucite. Besides looking fancier, it does mean it is a more fragile box than the portable 3'' x 5'' box. It is most suited to household use, glass is better material to use for collecting kief & aesthetics and since it won't be moved around very much or subjected to much force, it can get away with being a bit more delicate.
#3 - Green Goddess Supply Pollen Sifter/Shaker Box (Walnut)
If you're a real Goldilocks and the first box was too small and the second was too big, this one will be just right. Coming in at 6'' x 4'' it's another good choice for sifting amounts of cannabis from approximately a quarter to a half ounce.
I'm thankful the company had enough foresight to list their screen size. This box has a screen size of 100 microns. What this means is particles larger than 100 microns cannot fit through. Since I doubt that means much to you unless you work with a microscope, the average thickness of a human hair is about 75 microns for reference.
A large chunk of sources suggest that 100 microns is the ideal choice for the purpose of sifting kief, I unfortunately don't have the resources to test that for myself, but I certainly do have a lot of pure kief lying around from my 100 micron boxes.
The outer construction is made from walnut with a soft brown stain, the box itself is very smooth, it's probably one of my nicer smoking accessories. For whatever reason, the high quality shaker boxes look like something a wise adult would have compared to a lot of the adolescent designs of other smoking accessories, and I really like that I can leave a box lying out and have it compliment my decor. The box secures itself with very strong magnets that sometimes require a bit of force to get open, so make sure to be exercise caution when manipulating the box.
#4 - Green Goddess Supply Pollen Sifter/Shaker Box (Pinewood)
This box is way more rustic and functional compared to the classiness of the earlier boxes. That's not to say it isn't well made or pretty, but the pine wood construction and acrylic catch tray make it a much more approachable box as opposed to something that looks like it sits above the fireplace mantle and should be handled with extreme care. I tend to take this box with me when I'm out on the lake for that reasoning specifically.
It's a pretty big box which lends it to being well suited for sifting as opposed to shaking. The other boxes on this list I tend to shake indiscriminately up and down but this box is perfect for the side to side movements typically expected of sifting. The overall process doesn't take as long with this box and I am satisfied with my total yields based on the amount of herb I run through the bugger.
Top and bottom compartments are both secured with magnets of adequate strength that feel secure once they "lock" or whatever it is magnets do.
This tray has a 100 micron screen, perfect for collecting kief.
Remember: never touch your screens. No matter how tempting it is or for any reason should you touch the screen, even the tiniest bend seriously compromises the efficacy and structure of such a precise screen.
Admittedly, most of these kief boxes seem pretty posh and almost hoity-toity about their look. Fine wood finishes and high strength magnets doesn't really seem like something that suits everyone. I then decided to see if I could find the simplest and cheapest kief shaker that still gets the job done because it understands the concept with no need for extra frills.
The Aluminum Pollen Shaker is exactly that, seeing as it doesn't even have a proper name. With a cylindrical shape and a 4.5'' diameter, it's also probably one of the easiest shakers to carry around with you. Reasonably I could probably fit three quarters of an ounce into it and shake away to get the job done. The screen micron size is not specified so I doubt it is the more desirable 100 microns, still, it can't be that much larger. All this means is that if you want kief without some smaller plant particles going through, put your first batch of kief through the shaker again with the buds taken out.
No magnets this time, simply affix the plastic tops and bottoms to the device and shake it like it's a delicious milkshake. For this reason I suggest using a business card or hard cardstock so no plastic is scraped into the kief, be gentle!
I am a fan of products that just work, period. It's ugly, it's a simple aluminum tube with a screen on one side, but it is the cheapest kief shaker available that does exactly what a kief shaker is supposed to do.
Thinking Inside The Box
Whenever I smoke kief, I have no idea where it'll take me. Whether it be being able to sprinkle a little somethin'-somethin' on top of some already excellent bud for a little pick me up or a rim topper of kief to blast me to another planet, I really like being able to get so much kief so easily. One day I plan on letting it accumulate a lot and turning it into some beautiful hash, something I recommend everyone try at least once.
Remember, never touch the screens of your shaker boxes unless it is very done very delicately and is absolutely necessary. Now go shake it like a Polaroid picture.
Sorry. I had to.
I hope you enjoyed this article. If you have any questions at all, don't hesitate to comment down below, I answer every single comment.
About the Author Taylor
A marijuana enthusiast, vaporizer connoisseur, a frequent user of CBD and he's also the founder of iMarijuanit.com.