Twister Trimmer Review...

[Dr.Know]

A couple of months ago I picked up a new Twister Trimmer to help out with the fall harvest. I thought I would write up a little review....

I don't deal with as much volume as most people who own these machines but my hands have grown tired of spending countless hours during the winter months trimming the fall harvest.
Due to security concerns I never hire outside trimmers. When I first saw this machine last year I knew it was the answer to my problems.

While I haven't had the chance to use the Twister on any fresh outdoor material yet, I have had several runs with a few different kinds of indoor buds and here's the run down....

PROS:
great build quality
easy to use
easy to clean
cuts fast
cuts tight

The first thing you notice about the Twister is how well constructed it is. Besides a couple of plastic pieces, high quality materials are used throughout the machine.
The Twister is really easy to break down and clean. After getting it well soiled with material it cleaned back up to almost factory specs.
With proper maintenance there is no doubt in my mind it will last for a very long time.

The Twister does a fantastic job of removing the leaves around the flowers.
The blades cut fast and furious, rolling out nicely trimmed buds in no time at all.
I was really impressed the first time I saw it turn an 8hr job(by hand) into a 10 minute one.
I don't doubt it when I hear stories of people trimming 10bs(dry weight) an hour.
It trims almost as fast as you can load it with flowers.

It also can trim dried buds as well. I had some old outdoor sitting around and I was curious to see what the Twister would do with dry material.
I took 100 grams(each) of untrimmed buds from 3 different strains and trimmed it by hand.
Then I took the same amount, rehumidified it until it was super spongy/moist(bone dry material gets "digested" in the tumbler) and ran it through the Twister, then weighed the results.
First number is by hand, 2nd is what the Twister yielded...

73g/50g BubbaKush
68g/46g Bubblegum
65g/34g BubbaKush x C99

The machine actually did a nice job on the dried buds, I barely had to touch-up anything.
As you can tell tho the rate of loss was significantly higher than by hand so I wouldn't recommend running dried material through it.


CONS:
expensive
noisy
if used in the field needs generator with 220v
too rough on highly resinous flowers
turns the trim into mulch
drying method

I'm not going to say the Twister is overpriced as that is all relative to one's individual situation and needs. I will admit tho I had to save my pennies so I could afford it.
So far my biggest complaint with the Twister is how rough the blades/tumbler is on frosty indoor flowers.
The blades round off stacked calyxs and the tumbling action break the precious trichome heads right off their stalks or burst them outright draining away the THC enriched oil.
I would say easily 30%+ of the outer surface resin glands are removed during the trimming process.
When it comes to indoor meds I take great care to ensure 90%+ of my trichomes stay intact from growth-to-harvest-to-manicure-thru-curing.....until consumption.

I'm also not crazy about having to use the hanging racks to dry the buds. Laying them flat after you have cut off all the protective leaves exposes more trichomes to further damage.
So once again while the Twister does a great job of trimming the flowers, I wouldn't recommend using it on highly resinous indoor flowers.
Also the Twister does a number on the trim, it comes out looking like grass clippings from a lawn mower. Its better suited for the compost pile rather than serious hash making.

Here are some comparison shots of some indoor Serious Bubblegum to illustrate my point on "trichome breakage"

First 3 are buds ran through the Twister.


Twister on top hand trimmed on bottom, looks almost identical until you look closer

Twister

hand trimmed

Can you guess which is which?

Here you can see where a half the resin glands have been removed from the tumbling action of the Twister

hand trimmed

Twister

hand trimmed

Twister

hand trimmed

CONCLUSION

I love this machine. It is very well designed and it exceeds the level of craftsmanship I was hoping for.
Like anything else its not the perfect tool for every situation (or strain) but it does one thing and it does it very well........it cuts fast and it cuts tight.
With the right strain very little touch up is needed. Its going to save me so much time it almost boggles my mind, plus no more neck and back pain from spending long hours on the fiskars.

The Twister offers a bit of security as well,.... giving me some piece of mind I will beable to get my harvest processed that much faster when bad weather is forecasted.
The need for hired outside help is reduced or eliminated all together, which is a major security concern for some people.

While I'm not happy about how it rough it handles the flowers/trim..... it is still is a trade-off I'm willing to accept.
I got the machine with the intention of strictly using it for outdoor flowers so I'm not really bummed that I can't use it for indoor meds.
I'm also not as much concerned with "trichome breakage" with outdoor material as the forces of nature(wind,rain,dust,debris,insects) are constantly at work doing that already.

 

[Marshall]

nice write up

How did you handle bucking, pulling the fan leaves off? I was always under the impression you needed 3-5 guys bucking to keep the machine full of bud? I read if you buck and let the bud sit too long, it wont cut as well with all the leaves pushed in.


And those macro shots are awesome. What kind of camera and lens?

 

[Dr.Know]

Thanks Marshall

I have a trimpro that I normally use for fan leaf removal but I don't use it for indoor flowers, so I just plucked the biggest leaves off by hand and let the Twister do the rest.
To get the maximum output from the machine you would need at least a 3 man crew.
By myself I won't be able to get anywhere near 10# an hour. Yes, once the material starts to wilt the Twister has a hard time cutting as tightly.
I only process enough to fill 1-2 racks at a time so I don't have to worry about wilting leaves or the buds piling up too high and compressing after they roll out of the Twister.

I used a Nikon D300s and Sigma 50mm & Tamron 90mm macro lenses.

 

[RedReign]

Thanks for the in depth review.

I'd love to own one for the speed of trimming. But as the pictures show, it's not the way to go for indoor grown bud if you are looking for top dollar. Here in So Cal, the difference in the Twister vs. hand trimmed bud pics are easily $500 per lb. Could even make the difference between a sale or no sale.

 

[Chamba]

I would say easily 30%+ of the outer surface resin glands are removed during the trimming process.

yep, easily 30+%.....

damn! what a waste of good resin ...many readers here would see this as another good reason not to buy commercially grown bud.

.....with beat up, minced trim with smudged resin glands all over it, I guess the only to way to efficiently extract it would be to use alcohol or petro-chemical solvents ...there will soon be a lot more butane dissolved hash on the market in California.

I wonder how long it will take buyers to offer 40% less for machine trimmed bud? It has to happen soon

the next money maker for cash cropper supplies will be equipment that extracts the resin from trim and re-uses butane to save costs (aka a closed system)..is that available now?

What the world really needs now is a mechanical trimmer that doesn't remove all the best resin glands.......or ...perhaps the market will move from smoking bud to smoking hash which is a lot healthier and will be affordable with the big drop in prices that is coming soon...these trimming machines will help the market move in that direction.

If you think this is bad, lol just wait until big biz takes over production from the cash croppers, they will do to cannabis what they did to tobacco cigarettes or processed food...it won't be pretty!

with everyone using these resin robbing trimming machines, there will be a market for organically grown, hand trimmed and long cured bud...I'd pay twice the price for that over mass produced crap devoid of resin. Who wouldn't!

 

[calstar]

Thank you Dr. Know! In this case the picture is worth more than the proverbial 1000 words.
I knew zip about the mechanical trimmers but these pics taught me a lot. In defense of the mechanicals, I don't know wtf the really large growers would do without them(except hire an army of hand trimmers like they used to, maybe some still do). Chamba is most likely correct, soon there will be a different market price for the hand trimmed versus the mechanical for knowledgeable buyers since the % of trichome loss is significant. Needless to say great photography!

Question: what crops were the mechanicals developed for?

 

[n1knightmare]

Thanks for the review and amazing pics. I am a small timer so hand trimming just takes one night per harvest.

 

[Yeoman]

Question: what crops were the mechanicals developed for?

Hops

 

[feenom]

Question: what crops were the mechanicals developed for?

marijuana

 

[Blueshark]

Dr. K... Great review. I'll never need it but its good to 'know' about it anyway. Fantastic pics. Thanks for the intel.....

 

[Lazyman]

Yeah I had heard that about the Twister, I use a Trim Reaper and it's quite a big gentler on the buds than yours. Trichs remain intact, unsmudged/unsmeared and the edges are clipped off pretty cleanly. Compared to hand trimmed nugs I see no difference in the surfaces, but the Reaper doesn't work well on funny-shaped buds, the smaller the better. I hand trim funky tops, and everything smaller than a golf ball goes into the machine. Saves tons of time on the smaller stuff.

 

[Dislexus]

How loud is the motherfucker tho?

 

[Dr.Know]

Thanks for all the positive feedback guys

Unfortunately at many N.Cal clubs most medicine looks very similar to twister trimmed flowers, even tho the majority of it was probably hand trimmed.
Very few growers go the extra mile to ensure there is minimal damage to the flowers and precious resin glands(don't bruise the fruit!).
Even if the grower is very careful with his product it next runs the risk of getting over handled at the dispensary. Which is the reason you rarely see very high quality medicine at the clubs.

When I get a chance to run some outdoor flowers thru it I will post some more comparison pics. I am sure the loss of resin will be significantly less compared to indoors.


RedReign I agree with you......definitely are not going to get top dollar with flowers that look like they have been scuffed. You would need warehouse space anyways to justify the purchase of a twister for indoor use.

Chamba yes to get the most of the mulch, I mean trim, you would need some kind of solvent to extract it. Whats sad, is that much of the medicine at dispensaries is bruised to the point that it looks like it was mechanically trimmed even if it wasn't. Yeah I am thinking that too, along with market saturation there will be a niche for organically grown sativas and other rare heirloom varieties.

Calstar I doubt there will be a difference in price anytime soon. At least not until buyers start educating themselves. Right now its still the same old story in Cali .....down south if its Kush its gold, up north if its Purple its sold.

Lazyman I haven't seen a mechanical trimmer on the market that doesn't damage the buds, some just more than others. A friend of mine has a trim reaper and the rubber fingers that move the buds around the grate also scuff and break the resin glands. Not to mention if you are laying your flowers flat to dry after all the leaves have been removed you are exposing some trichomes to even more damage. I know what you mean about the small buds, saves so much time having a machine do all that tedious work for you.

Dislexus the Twister makes alot of noise. The motor that runs tumbler and blades isn't too loud but the blower that extracts the leaves is really loud. I had a video on YouTube but took it down until Customs stops hating.

 

[Dr.Know]

A few pics from last fall of the twister in action....



Before


After

 

[420ish]

how long do you leave them in the racks?whats your drying routine?

 

[Ganja D]

I would rather get kicked in the balls every harvest then ever use a twister again.
I would rather have crack head violent mental patient trimmers by hand then use a twister with topless hot chicks running it.(lol)

 

[MrMagic]

thanks for the review..ive been wanting a twister for awhile and alot of my concerns have been answered here.i dont think the twister will be touching any of my indoor,i think its best use would be for a large outdoor harvests. thanks again

 

[weednazi]

Bought one of these hunks of garbage at Trim Scene Solutions. Finally pulled the plug on in half way thru harvest after it completely destroyed the buds. Not only do all buds larger than popcorn have to be gone over with scissors, the crystals are completely destroyed and you are lucky if you even get a faint resemblance of the smell to come back after it cures, not to mention the color is 10 shades darker! People are ranting about home much time and $ this saves them and also security due to fewer trimmers... That is complete B.S. You need a ginormous crew just to keep this leaf shredder filled with bud. There is no $ savings because the finished product sells for fraction of the price of hand trimmed bud.

There is now a $16,000 ( trimmer, tax, and hanging racks) bunny trimmer collecting dust in the garage.

Trim Scene should be ashamed they even carry a piece of steaming S##t like this.

 

[vendertian]

I love how a lot of i read on the major medical majrijuana forums is snobbish comments from californians and how it should be or what will happen if this happens... Blah,blah,blah. The truth is that there are only 17 states that have medical marjijuana. Where do you think these people get their medicine from?

Well you dont know because you have probably never even seen mexican ditch weed before. Comes in a big compressed brick. Stems, seeds and all.

So when you live in say oklahoma and you get a choice between the ditch weed or weed that has been tended to and loved for 6 months or some ditch weed, well the choice is easy.

As far as the hash is concerned, there is NO market for hash in lots of non mmj states. It is more used in mmj states.

The large farmers out there, that are not the most legal, but are helping supply medinine to those who need it. You have to look at the bigger picture. Think of the bigger picture of right now, not what could be.

As far as the twister goes, i cant wait to get one. It will pay for itself in the first year.
This is what i mean.
You have 100 lbs. At 200$ a pound to pay lots of people to trim. That's 20k right there. Not to mention the 15-20 unwanted guests on your property for a week or two. All the attitudes and drama i can deal without..

Dr. Know is also right about the club bud. No difference really.
Note to Dr.Know, friends of mine i came up with a better drying system than the cloth racks. Chicken wire with smaller holes. This lets the drying buds sit lying down without getting flat. Lots of different ways to use it as well. If you like to hang this stuff also works.

In conclusion, if you have a large outdoor farm, this machine saves time money and headaches as far as i can tell and can hardly wait to get it. If you have had proplems with it ripping your buds up then it was probably human error. Maybr you tried to put too much in or you didnt buck it down enough. Whatever the case, i have seen it in action and i want it.

Great review and pics. Sorry for any typos, im on my phone.

 

[username474]

Great review. Exactly what I was looking for. Have you experimented with any other machines? I wish I could find a review exactly like yours for the satellite. I am looking for something for indoor. I could not deal the amount of loss with the twister. Using the twister for outdoor is a no brainer though.