The best kief boxes (pollen sifter box) to buy in 2023 (2023)

Arguably, one of the great joys of cannabis happens before you smoke. Holding a bud between your fingers, gazing at the frosty coating of tiny trichome crystals as you try to take a pic with your camera with the other hand. But as you surely know, those trichomes that fall off and become kief aren’t just nice to look at, they’re full of THC and can easily be harvested to make all types of cannabis concentrates.

But before you launch a kief salvage expedition, you need to get your hands on a kief box.

Pine Pollen Sifter Box w/100 micron screen

Price: $41.99
Material: Pine wood
Dimensions: 5.5″ x 4″ x 2.75″
Screen type/materials: 100 micron mesh screen
Other relevant information: Extra strength magnets to secure box, removable glass tray for pollen collection. Lid includes a rolling “V” and paper storage compartment for easy rolling.

“Shake, sift, and store”

The Pine Pollen Sifter Box by Green Goddess is an intuitively-built piece of wood craftsmanship that makes sifting kief and rolling joints quite simple.

The box is three separate pieces in one — lid, filter section, and catch tray. Made out of sturdy pine wood, it includes a 100 micron mesh screen in the middle to sift kief to the glass collection tray below. And when you’re done, it all closes and seals up nicely thanks to the extra-strength magnets.

When it’s time to break up the bud and roll a joint, the lid has a magnetic rolling “V” and a place to store your papers.

Grindhouse Bamboo Sifter Box

Price: $47.39
Material: Bamboo
Dimensions: Medium (4″ x 6.5″) and small (3″ x 5″)
Screen type/materials: 125 micron sifting screen
Other relevant information: 100% satisfaction guarantee, free shipping inside USA, and expert product support

This kief box from Grindhouse is smooth, sleek, easy-to-use and made entirely of bamboo.

The box comes in two sizes and couldn’t be easier to use — with a three-piece design, magnetic lid, and a 125 micron sifting screen that floats your kief down onto a black tempered glass plate for collecting.

The box also just looks nice and should fit on or under any coffee table.

To sweeten the deal, Grindhouse also includes free shipping inside the USA and provides a 100% satisfaction guarantee.

RYOT Walnut Lockable Wooden Storage Box with Pollen Sifter Box

Price: $79.95
Material: Walnut
Dimensions: 11 x 8 x 3.5 inches
Screen type/materials: Fine mesh monofilament
Other relevant information: Large for a kief box, it provides more storage room and multiple compartments than most competitors and includes a lock and key.

RYOT’s walnut combination wood stash box and pollen sifter is the sort of keepsake kief box that you’ll want to keep on display on top of the coffee table – and not stashed underneath it.

It’s rather large and solidly built, with an attractive walnut finish, opening like a tackle box with a top level that can be used to stash all sorts of herb and accessories.

The box also comes with a metal lock and key to keep things safe and secure.

Inside, you’ll find a 4 x 7 box with a screen for sifting kief, which collects on a glass tray below. The box comes with multiple dividers to help with organizing your supplies, and if you want to toss a couple of humidity control packs in there then the whole box can double as a humidor of sorts.

RYOT Glass Top Screen Boxes

Price: $39.00
Material: Wood with glass top
Dimensions: Available in small (3×5 inches) and medium (4×7 inches). Interior box depth is 1.625 inches
Screen type/materials: 100 micron monofilament screen
Available colors: Natural and walnut finish
Other relevant information: Comes with a black lucite tray for kief collection. Magnetically-secured closures keep it safely closed. Etched glass provides an attractive, classy look along with the walnut finish.

The RYOT Glass Top Screen Box is a perfectly straightforward and highly effective way of storing your weed and getting the most (kief) out of your cannabis.

The box is attractively constructed in wood with a 100 micron monofilament screen to help sift out high-quality kief from your buds. There’s also a drawer and a lucite tray to collect your kief. And the glass top? Perfect for observing your buds without opening the lid.

The box comes in two sizes — small and medium — and can be ordered with either a natural or walnut finish. Inside, it has a removable storage divider, perfect for storing some rolling and trimming tools with your buds.

The box also includes a 100% satisfaction guarantee and free, fast shipping if ordering inside the US.

Aluminum Pollen Shaker Extractor

Price: $14.95
Material: Aluminum
Dimensions: 4.5″
Screen type/materials: Metal screen

And now for something completely different.

If you’re looking to shake things up a bit, or you’ve found that you aren’t getting enough kief with a wooden pollen box, then take a look at the Aluminum Pollen Shaker.

It really couldn’t be easier both in form and function. Standing just 4.5 inches tall, the shaker has a simple mechanism — just put the flower in the chamber, close the shaker… and shake. The kief will sift through the metal screen into a removable bottom chamber.

Now, it doesn’t allow you to watch the kief fall off your buds in real time, but it’s an effective way to manually, and a bit more rigorously, work that kief off your weed.

Black Leaf Wooden Pollen Sifter Kief Box

Price: $34.99
Material: Beech hardwood and pine
Dimensions: 5.9 x 4.1 x 2.75 inches
Screen type/materials: Fine nylon mesh
Other relevant information: The box looks like a bedside table, with pull out drawers and trays.

The wooden pollen sifter kief box from Black Leaf has a uniquely-designed shape and is perfectly crafted to collect and store kief.

It almost resembles a bedside table, with two pull out drawers – one up top for the herb and the screen, and the bottom for the brown, sliding glass plate where all the good stuff falls to be scooped up later on.

The box also includes magnetized closures to keep it well sealed, and allows you to move the trays around a bit. This means you can move the nylon mesh screen up to the top and use it like a rolling tray of its own.

What is a kief box?

Akin to a small home cigar humidor, kief boxes — also known as pollen sifter boxes — are usually made of wood and include a place to stash your weed as well as everything that’s needed to filter out kief and collect it for later.

Typically kief boxes include at least two compartments. There’s the top lid which opens and can be used to stash buds as well as papers and other paraphernalia. The bottom of the top compartment is typically a kief filter or sifting screen, and below there is usually a second compartment where the kief falls and remains until it is collected.

Sifting screens will usually include a micron count, and the lower the number, the smaller the materials that can sift through. Smaller micron counts produce a more high quality kief, though the yield will be smaller than that of higher micron count filters.

How do you use a pollen sifter box?

Kief boxes are quite easy to use, so long as your cannabis is properly dry.

• Place the bud in the top compartment above the sifter screen.
• Gently rub the bud across the screen OR close the lid and shake the box.
• You can let the kief collect in the bottom compartment or remove it and smoke it right away.

What kind of screen is used for kief?

Most kief boxes use one of two types of screens – stainless steel or monofilament/fine mesh.

• Stainless steel screens are more durable and longer lasting.
• Monofilament screens are made from fiber and can sift the fine kief particles better than metal.

What is the best size screen for kief?

Both types of screens can be purchased in a wide variety of micron sizes. With microns, the lower the number, the finer the screen, But some screens are marketed according to mesh lines per inch (LPI) where the higher the number, the finer the kief.

• Most kief boxes have screens between 60 and 120 microns / 80 – 270 LPI
• The smallest micron size for kief is 36 microns, but most boxes come with screens higher than that.

For comparison purposes, a tea bag typically has a 90 microns screen.

DIY kief boxes

There are a number of different methods you can use to sift kief without purchasing a pollen box, and they can be quite effective.

• Buy a silk screen and shadow box at your local hobby/ art store. Find one with 110 microns or less and stretch it over the shadow box. Leave the glass at the bottom of the shadow box to collect the kief.
• Stretch the silk screen over a bucket to create a Moroccan kief drum, an old technique for hash production. Place another layer of fabric over the weed and beat it like a drum. This technique works best with larger quantities of weed.
• Place a low micron screen over the top of a mason jar and screw it into place with the screw piece of a two-part lid. Rub the cannabis across the top and allow the kief to collect in the jar.

How to clean a kief box

Kief is sticky so your kief box will need to be cleaned in order to keep it working well. Depending on how long it’s been since you last cleaned the box, you have a few options. Before trying any of these methods, remove as much of the usable kief as possible from the box.

• Freeze it. Kief is made of trichomes, which are fat-based molecules. While they’re sticky when warm, they lose most of their traction when frozen. Place your kief box in the freezer for about 20 minutes. Remove, keeping the box closed, and hit the bottom against a flat surface. This should dislodge most of the kief stuck on the screen and in the corners of the box.
• Clean it with a toothbrush. Take a (new) toothbrush and use the bristles to dislodge any kief stuck in the corners. You can also use the toothbrush on the screen, but don’t use too much pressure! Gently move the toothbrush in a circular motion, starting in the middle of the screen and moving outwards. The kief should fall through the screen and collect in the bottom.
• Use isopropyl alcohol. For really dirty kief boxes, you’ll need to break out every smoker’s best friend- isopropyl alcohol. Get a rag damp with the alcohol and gently rub the screen as well as the bottom compartment. If your kief box is really sticky, you’ll need to soak each compartment in isopropyl for a few hours. Rinse it out thoroughly and allow the kief box to dry for several hours before using it again.

Is a kief box worth the money?

It depends on your preferences. Though a kief box is single purpose, you’ll find a kief box worth the investment if you enjoy smoking kief, or want to stretch your weed as far as possible.

Kief boxes do what most grinders cannot; separate out the fine kief instead of clumping it together. Though 4-part grinders do have compartments for kief, kief connoisseurs know that nothing compares to a high quality kief box.