I’ve been using this $200 pepper grinder for two weeks — it’s ridiculously expensive but really good

(Image credit: Future)

In the realm of the kitchen, it’s easy to get obsessive. Just look at how much people will spend on the best espresso machines and coffee grinders. But pepper?

Unless you’re registering for a fancy salt and pepper mill from Williams-Sonoma for your wedding, chances are you’re not spending more than $50 on a grinder.

So I was more than a bit skeptical about the Mannkitchen Pepper Cannon — yes, it’s named after artillery — which costs a whopping $200. I do more than my share of cooking, but how much better could something that costs two bills be over my everyday pepper grinder that costs a quarter as much?

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Hyperbole aside, this is one solid pepper grinder...er, cannon. The body of the grinder is made from milled aluminum, and has a black, non-slip finish. It feels a little coarse, but it helps keep it firm even if your hands are a little slick from water or oil.

At 7 1/4 inches tall, it's a bit smaller than what I imagined for something that's called a Cannon. I was expecting a Napoleonic-era howitzer, or one of those comically large grinders you see at restaurants.

However, weighing in at just over a pound, it definitely feels solid.

To refill the Pepper Cannon, you press a small button on its top to remove its cap. The Cannon comes fitted with a black button, but inside the box is a silver and a red button, so you can add a splash of color to the all-black device.

The Cannon also comes with a cap for its bottom end, which stays in place via a small o-ring; thoughtfully, the company also includes a few spares.

Mannkitchen pepper cannon accessories — (Image credit: Future)

The cap is handy for when you want to grind some pepper before adding it to a dish; I wish the inside of it was coated white, so it would be easier to see just how much pepper you've ground.

Aesthetics aside, the Pepper Cannon has two standout features: It has an insanely wide grind range — from grounds as fine as powdered sugar to big, coarse chunks — and it takes far fewer turns of the grinder than a mere mortal pepper grinder. "Pepper your steak in 7 cranks instead of 70," the company boasts.

But how do those claims hold up?

First, the grind range: Mannkitchen says that the Pepper Cannon can grind from 8 to over 60 mesh size, whereas "ordinary mills can only grind pepper in the 12-28 mesh size range."

A small dial on the bottom of the Cannon can be turned about 100 times to adjust the coarseness of the grind. It's real overkill. Here's a look at the range, which I did in increments of five:

Mannkitchen pepper cannon grind sizes — (Image credit: Future)

Between each ring of pepper grounds, there are four more grind sizes, so you really have a huge range to try.

I found that the Cannon quickly goes from a fine, powdery grind to big coarse chunks within a few turns of the adjustment dial. In general, I used it most often in the more finely ground side of things.

pepper cannon vs le creuset — (Image credit: Future)

As for the second claim that it takes far fewer turns to produce as much ground pepper as other grinders, I compared it to the only other grinder in my house a Le Creuset Classic Pepper Mill ($46 at Le Creuset) we got as a wedding gift, and which works perfectly well.

First, I adjusted the Cannon so that its grounds were roughly the same size as those from my other pepper grinder.

Next, I turned each five full rotations, and then weighed the results.

creuset vs pepper cannon — (Image credit: Future)

The Le Creuset model ground 0.6 grams of pepper, while the Pepper Cannon ground 1 gram in the same number of turns. So, you're getting almost twice as much pepper for the same amount of effort. And, as you can see from the photo above, the Pepper Cannon produced a more more consistent grind.

Is the Pepper Cannon worth it?

If you're only using a pepper mill to season your food for dinner, then the $200 Pepper Cannon is probably an extravagance you can live without. If, however, you're a fan of cacio e pepe, steak au poivre, or smoke a lot of briskets, then something that can crank out a lot of ground pepper — and without you getting carpal tunnel — could be worth the investment.

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Michael A. Prospero is the U.S. Editor-in-Chief for Tom’s Guide. He oversees all evergreen content and oversees the Homes, Smart Home, and Fitness/Wearables categories for the site. In his spare time, he also tests out the latest drones, electric scooters, and smart home gadgets, such as video doorbells. Before his tenure at Tom's Guide, he was the Reviews Editor for Laptop Magazine, a reporter at Fast Company, the Times of Trenton, and, many eons back, an intern at George magazine. He received his undergraduate degree from Boston College, where he worked on the campus newspaper The Heights, and then attended the Columbia University school of Journalism. When he’s not testing out the latest running watch, electric scooter, or skiing or training for a marathon, he’s probably using the latest sous vide machine, smoker, or pizza oven, to the delight — or chagrin — of his family.