Pepper Mills

Sorry if this question was posted before, search engine didn't show any threads, but I'm so frustrated with bad pepper mills. I swear that the containers of tellicherry pepper with the built in plastic mills that you purchase at Costco, etc grind a better grind than some mills that I've purchased over the years. Is there a good adjustable pepper mill out there for a reasonable price? Thanks.

Drew

I have this one. Old Thompson. Adjustable. I like the inverted style, you don't get schmutz all over the table or countertop. Best is that it's super easy to fill, it unscrews between the collar and the glass neck so the whole grinder mechanism comes off and you have a nice wide opening for refilling. They have lifetime guarantee so if it ever goes south they'll replace it with a phone call. We sell a lot of them in the shop. They should run between S18-25 depending.

We have two six inch Peugeot mills in light and dark wood that we have used for heavy duty work in the kitchen for decades. We have an acrylic mill on the table with multi colored pepper that works barely, so won't even give the name.

I use a sturdy mid-sized Olde Thompson (Sheffield Steel) for the black, a small Zassenhaus for the white, and a small Banton by Vic Firth (who?) for the G of P. All are wood bodied.

We ended up buying one of these a couple of years ago. It's a great unit for the kitchen as you get a lot of pepper out of each grind and it holds a lot. It's a bit pricey but worth it IMO.

[Jenise]

I think mine are both Zassenhaus--I purchased them from Penzey's. All brass was one attraction, no plastic parts to wear out as had happened with my William Bounds models. The other attraction was their ability to do a very, VERY coarse grind. I have to set the phinial so loose the top practically comes off, but at least I can get the cracked pepper with a mix of large and small bits that I crave. I do not want smooth, fine, even dust. But they're ugly--conventional and old timey, like a cuckoo clock, and I'd replace at least one in a heartbeat if I could find a modern grinder that did equally well.

Scott, I love the look of yours. How does yours do a super coarse grind? (I keep my mills in the shallow crocks that St. Marcellin cheese comes in to contain the "shmutz"--you made me laugh with that.)

Perfex Pepper Mill.jpg

Well, I thought I had a suggestion for you, but when I went to find a link, I realized that the pepper mill that I have used and been happy with is ridiculously priced (it wasn't when I bought it 30 years ago).



http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002OOVBEO/ref=s9_simh_gw_p79_t1?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-2&pf_rd_r=1N1SCQMEEVGE3PDMXHEZ&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=470938631&pf_rd_i=507846

[Jenise]

I have this one. Old Thompson. Adjustable.

Either this or an exact copy of this, with a taller base--the glass part is about 5" tall, was at Target today. $15--I bought one. It did an excellent coarse grind. Think I'll use this for the stove where the coarseness isn't quite as critical and keep the larger Z-heus at the prep station, retiring the small one which requires refilling weekly.

(I keep my mills in the shallow crocks that St. Marcellin cheese comes in to contain the "shmutz"....)

Me, too!

[Jenise]

Perfex Pepper Mill.jpg

Well, I thought I had a suggestion for you, but when I went to find a link, I realized that the pepper mill that I have used and been happy with is ridiculously priced (it wasn't when I bought it 30 years ago).

Greg, I've only seen one of those once and had no idea they were so spendy. But check this out--a dinner guest showed up with it one night and set it on the dinner table next to her place, saying she was concerned I wouldn't have a pepper mill that ground pepper the way she liked it. Can you believe it?

I have this one. Old Thompson. Adjustable. They should run between S18-25 depending.

Thanks for the advice everyone. I purchased two of yours ScottD from Amazon. Free shipping and $29.98 total for the two.

Drew

[Jenise]

Scott, tell us about your store. Didn't realize you had one.

But check this out--a dinner guest showed up with it one night and set it on the dinner table next to her place, saying she was concerned I wouldn't have a pepper mill that ground pepper the way she liked it. Can you believe it?

Amazing. And, if she didn't let you know beforehand, rude.

[Jenise]

But check this out--a dinner guest showed up with it one night and set it on the dinner table next to her place, saying she was concerned I wouldn't have a pepper mill that ground pepper the way she liked it. Can you believe it?

Amazing. And, if she didn't let you know beforehand, rude.

Same woman showed up for dinner once with INAO glasses "so I can detect all the faults in your wine." I told her to put them away or she was a dead woman. Strange person who I suspect has Aspergers Syndrome. She was never diagnosed with it but her tin ear for social convention along with a lot of other odd behaviors is such that I can't imagine any other explanation. Anyway, she was convinced that her mill actually made the pepper taste different.

OK, that's something of an excuse.

[Jenise]

OK, that's something of an excuse.

Yes, I never took as much offense at this kind of thing from her as I would have from someone who was just normal-pompous.

Scott, tell us about your store. Didn't realize you had one.

No, I moonlight in a spice shop. I live in a little touristy town and we're only open weekends right now. During the summer I might work 3-4 days a months, sometimes more. It's a great shop. The owner was a neighbor of ours and she got tired of me calling and having her bring stuff home for us, so she gave me hours. She's got 5 shops actually, 3 here in Michigan, one in Temecula, CA and one in Breckinridge, CO. The one here in town's been open almost 8 years. The western stores are "franchises" with family. We've got all the standard individual dried herbs and spices. Probably 25 different salts. A hundred or so blends. And 50-60 different teas. She does a tremendous business one ounce at a time. I tell everyone that the Food Network has been our best marketing tool. I've learned a lot. She has a vendor that mixes most of the blends, as they come in 50-100 lb qty. (she warehouses in one of the shops and ships to the satellite stores) but there's still a few blends that we mix in house; a couple of the curries and the herbs de provence, notably, and our salt free blends. It's a fun place to work. Retail can be a pain, but when you're dealing with customers who are mostly there on vacation everyone's a lot more pleasant.

Perfex Pepper Mill.jpg

Well, I thought I had a suggestion for you, but when I went to find a link, I realized that the pepper mill that I have used and been happy with is ridiculously priced (it wasn't when I bought it 30 years ago).

Greg, I've only seen one of those once and had no idea they were so spendy. But check this out--a dinner guest showed up with it one night and set it on the dinner table next to her place, saying she was concerned I wouldn't have a pepper mill that ground pepper the way she liked it. Can you believe it?

A shake your head in disbelief moment.

[Jenise]

Scott, tell us about your store. Didn't realize you had one.

No, I moonlight in a spice shop. I live in a little touristy town and we're only open weekends right now. During the summer I might work 3-4 days a months, sometimes more. It's a great shop. The owner was a neighbor of ours and she got tired of me calling and having her bring stuff home for us, so she gave me hours. She's got 5 shops actually, 3 here in Michigan, one in Temecula, CA and one in Breckinridge, CO.

How fun. Fresh, local spice shops are a great resource--someone opened one here, also with coffees and teas, but the location was poor--no foot traffic--and it didn't do well.

Anyway I thank you for mentioning your pepper mill as I'm quite delighted with this and I didn't even know I was in the market for a new one. Wouldn't have even picked this up had I not read this thread before leaving home, and having thought the night before as I went to grind pepper onto something, "Empty AGAIN?" It does a great coarse grind. Amazing with a lifetime guarantee, too, for the price.

Received my mills from Fedex and they're great. The pepper container is thick glass and not plastic. The grind is adjustable and produces a lot of pepper easily. The best grinder for the money, $15 delivered, that I've used and with a 100% replacement guarantee tis a no brainer. Thanks for the recommendation.

Drew

At the risk of being self serving I would like to weigh in on the subject of pepper mills. I am the owner of Pepper-Passion and I have personally made over 2,000 handcrafted salt and pepper mills. Price range from $120 all the way up to $900 with set usp to $1,300. Obvioulsy these are out of most peoples price range. I call them "jewelry for the dining room table". I guess people buy them for the same reason people buy fine china and sterling. I have joked that they make the pepper taste better and people understand. I also use the analogy that you would not drink a $300 bottle of wine from a paper cup but I digress.

My point in wring is that they are a lot of lousy pepper mills out there. I hear complaints all the time. Sometime it is simply an issue of a good mill needing a good cleaning but choosing a mill is worthy of a little thought. I like the magnum pepper mill. It is ugly but works like a champ and will grind a the largest and oiliest peppercorn without failing or ever logging. It also has a great range of adjustment for fine to very coarse. The Peugeot is very good. They invented the pepepr mill and it is still one of the best however it does grind as coarse as i would like, something that is true of many European designs. I would not own an acrylic mill. They look good for about a day and then they advertise whatever was on your hands the last time you used it. Beware of the mill loaded with "free" pepeprcorns. Either the mill or the peppercorns (or maybe both) are junk. I used to ridicule electric mills bt I started selling them and they really are quite convenient if you already have a plate in one hand so I have been a reluctant convert.

We also sell a pocket peppermill. People use it not because it grinds any better but because you can always have access to your favorite peppercorn. There ARE differences and f you sole knowledge of pepper is pre-ground, or from generic blends that came free with your mill then you could be in for a pleasant surprise by trying a pure varietal. It is worth having to put the final touch on steak tha just cost you $45 at Ruth's Chris or Mortons. Great for picnics or camping too.

There is nothing special about ceramic mechanisms. "Crush grind" is a bunch of hype. Pepper tastes the same whether you grind it with a mill or use a hammer to make the particle sizes smaller. A ceramic mill can usually grindsalt or pepper but it make a well designed mechanism to to find one that grinds both equally well. Mostof the better pepperocrns sch as what we sell on our site, tend to be larger and oilier, so they are great are plugging poorly made mills. The magnum is a deal at $45.00 and it is plug proof. The cheap prefilled mills at Costco and other stores plug almost instantly when they are loaded with our bold Talamanca peppercorns.

Bruce
www.pepper-passion.com

Bruce, do you ever sell pepper "relatives" like Grains of Paradise?

Bruce - I agree on the Magnum. Best one I've used (and we have at least four in the household right now).

We have a battery-powered one that is indeed handy when you only have one hand available. The problem with ours is that it's very slow. I've pretty much quit using it because of that.

We are a very small company and so we received requests for the more exoripe piper nigrum relatives only infrequently abnd so we do not offer them at this time. I guees it is a case of people being curious about them rather than really seeing a specific use for them. My own wife loves to cook and experiemtn with spices but she has not even touched the sample I have of Long Pepper cubeb pepper etc. Too bad!

Bruce