Kief (pronounced [ke:f, ki(:)f], and sometimes written as “keef” or “kif”) comes from the Arabic word كيف (kayf) which means pleasure/intoxication. Kief is the trichome (resin) of the cannabis plant that has been separated from dried flower or trim and sifted. To make kief using The Kief Thief, dried and ground cannabis is inserted into the drum of The Kief Thief. Once the drum and cover have been installed, the power is switched on and the drum begins turning. As the drum gently turns, the small blonde to whitish kief crystals make their way through the stainless steel mesh and land below to the collection surface. Once the material has been thoroughly extracted, you can power off the unit, remove the cover and drum and harvest your material using a business card or similar collection device. The amount of time the process takes can vary from anywhere from less than an hour to 24 hours or more depending on type, amount and quality of material used.
The amount of material that you can process at a time in the Kief Thief varies anywhere from as little as 1 gram to over a pound. The more material you run at a time, the longer it takes to complete a full extraction. The type, quality, humidity and preparation of the material also affect both the time and extraction yield. The lower the relative humidity of the material, the better the extraction rate. This also applies to the relative humidity of the ambient environment.
Starting from the ground up, we use a 1 piece 14 gauge stainless steel chassis to house the drum, motor and dust cover. This is by far the most durable, sanitary and easiest to clean surface, especially because there are no seams or overlapping surfaces to harbor material or nasties. One of the biggest flaws of most other tumblers is the fact that they use anything from cheap plastic storage totes to plywood (which contains formaldehyde) as housings. They break, stretch, crack, or mold with time.
The Kief Thief also utilizes type 316 Stainless Steel mesh for the sifter drum that is kept at the perfect tension with our trademarked tension rods. This helps keep the tiny spacing’s in the mesh very consistent for a superior extract. Other tumblers on the market use nylon silkscreen which constantly is changing mesh size as it stretches and ages until it ultimately fails or you get tired of finding nylon strands in your kief. The few brands that do actually employ a stainless steel screen use velcro bands to attach the screen around the sides which is impossible to clean and is also constantly shedding nylon into your kief. We employ 316 stainless steel tension bands and clasps to secure our screens to our side plates which are CNC machined out of FDA approved HDPE.
We use a American made, 120 volt, heavy duty gear reduction motor to power our sifter, unlike the other tumblers out on the market. Through years of trial and error, we found the perfect RPM to spin the tumbler drum to produce the cleanest kief and to prevent the material from being thrashed and ground up inside of the drum, which decreases the quality and flavor of the kief dramatically. The motors have a internal fan for cooling and are designed to run continuously. Other machines turn the drum way too fast and they just do not last.
The Kief Thief features a removable polycarbonate dust cover that allows the operator to actually see what is going on inside. Cleaning the cover and collecting the kief is easy thanks to its one piece construction. Other machines do not allow very good visibility or ease of cleaning due to their construction design. The dust cover as well as the chassis feature durable, folding, stainless steel handles.
The bottom line is that when you buy The Kief Thief, not only are you getting the best dry sift extractor on the market, you are making an investment in your future with commercial quality gear versus buying a gimmick. You are also helping to support our local economy and supporting a small business versus buying from a company that imports from overseas.