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I've been using the disposable mills that you buy on the spice rack at the grocery store for awhile.  I've been through a few permanent pepper mills and they always dispense such a paltry amount of pepper that I eventually throw them away or break them in disgust.  

I need to upgrade my pepper mill situation.  I need to know that I'm all set on the pepper mill front for at least the next decade.  This is simply for peace of mind.  If you've got any leads on quality pepper mills that produce prodigious amounts of pepper, look relatively stylish, preferably have a mechanism to adjust the coarseness of the grind, well, now is your chance to spread your wisdom the world over.  I've been searching through Amazon for the last hour and there are just too many choices.  I sincerely doubt that there could be that many 5 star rated pepper mills in existence.  At least according to my standards.

I turned mine over and had a look for you. I'm not sure if "Trudeau" is only available in Canada, but looking it up online produces a lot of battery-operated nonsense.

I have one of the simple glass and stainless steel getups, and I figured I'd mention it because I feel like I'm in a Canadian blizzard (OF PEPPER) every time I use it.

It's not a battery operated one is it?  Those in my experience are weak as fuck.  A VERITABLE BLIZZARD OF PEPPER is pretty much what I'm looking for.  I want to make it rain.  Let me know if you figure out which one it is.

http://www.distinctive-decor.com/trudeau-pepper-mill-salt-shaker-chrome-acrylic.html

Gonna say that's the one right there.

I'll tell you what. I pepper everything I eat up like a mofo. I'm the dude that sits there in the restaurant for five minutes while the waiter peppers his food. I hate slow-ass pepper grinders/shakers.

That one is sweet. You need to find just the right setting by twiddling the knob at the top and before long it's raining pepper.

No batteries.

Just pepper.

I had an awesome Peugeot pepper mill.  I could choose different grinds which was really handy.  Unfortunately, the last time we moved house was also the last time I saw it.  I picked up some standard run of the mill mill from Wegmans which is okay.  I keep almost buying another Peugeot but I think the $60 price tag somehow prevents me from that final click to buy button.  I'll do it one day!

PS  I also like a lot of black pepper on tons of things (expecially mac and cheese!) and I like it coarse ground. 

The Peugeot ones are great, I got a pair myself. They're virtually indestructible too.

(http://dl.dropbox.com/u/85916/oj-simpson-mugshot-small.jpg)

Peugeot is definitely the top brand.

I went with a William Bounds model myself as I heard good things about their crushing mechanism (they crush rather than grind). This is the model I have, it's nothing fancy but I like it:

http://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/product.asp?order_num=-1&SKU=15166967

Dunno if it would be considered a pepper rainer, however.

Pro-tip: Get the stained/clear-coated mills if you decide to get Peugeot. The ones with solid coats have so hard finish that they tend to chip along the bottom rim. It's no big deal, but sad to see on such expensive gear.

I actually started using a mortar & pestle some years ago for pepper because I was fed up with crappy mills.

It's great. Chunky or fine as you like, as much or as little you like. Just takes 10 seconds longer. Tool a bit of experimenting to find the ideal one and the one I've ended up using is (no joke) one my little brother made in woodwork class at school in 1992.

I considered this but felt it was one step closer to being an evil wizard than I was comfortable with.

If that's an alternative, you could always consider getting one of those small coffee grinders that uses a top-mounted blade rather than a crushing mechanism. That's what I use when I have to crush spices that are too hard for the mortar, like fenugreek.

I dunno the brands, I've got about ten of them. I normally use a wood and glass one with some grind adjustments on it, but I also have a one-hander for seasoning raw meat, which cuts way down on hand washing and just makes prepping meat much less of a pita. Not the Vic Firth one, a kinda plier-grip thing I got at some outlet store. Vic Firth makes great drum sticks, but their mill sucks (I own it and it languishes on the shelf). I also had that ball-shaped one-hander, it broke in half on me.

About every material, metal, glass, plastic; different grinders, too: metal and ceramic. I'm not real picky, the cheap mills do a good job and have lasted me years.

I started with the mortar and pestle style.

Fake edit: since it was so many years to find a decent one-hander, I looked it up. It's a Trudeau (http://www.amazon.com/Bright-Pepper-Peppers-warranty-Trudeau/dp/B000BRW95G/ref=pd_sbs_k_4), I guess. Grind is usually too coarse for regular usage, though. Perfect for what I use it for. Just throwin' it out there anyway.

I had that problem once. I recently bought a new M&P, as I lost my old one while moving. It's made of pure cast iron and weighs on the order of four pounds. It's more than a grinder; it's a Spice Dominator.

Fortunately, it has a rubber 'foot' on the mortar, so my neighbors are only mildly irritated by the dragon-in-a-steel-mill cacophony that results whenever I use it. I have agreed to stop using it after 11 PM though.

Only a douche bag grinds his own pepper.

Go electric, pussy. (http://www.google.com/products/catalog?rlz=1C1CHMI_enUS364US364&sourceid=chrome&q=electric+pepper+mill&um=1&ie=UTF-8&cid=17400096879953113947&ei=B3xgS5PzIIWysgPUoN24Cw&sa=X&oi=product_catalog_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCAQ8wIwAA#ps-sellers)

Also, there are cheaper ones if you don't feel like spending $120 on pepper.

Battery operated pepper mills aren't strong enough to satisfy my needs.

>I need to know that I'm all set on the pepper mill front for at least the next decade.

That's mildly disturbing.  I am Jack's Control Issues.

That was me being funny shit-for-brains.

 :why_so_serious:

 :heart:

I gave up on pepper a while ago and just started going through bottles of Tabasco every month.

Does that mean I have a problem now? Is pepper a gateway spice to the hard stuff?!?!

(http://www.chilliworld.com/i/p/185.jpg)

All you ever need as condiment (that particular brand.)

Sambal belacan is where it's at.

It's a bit DIY and not terribly presentable, but this one is. (http://www.instructables.com/id/Automatic-Pepper-Grinder/)

I would just like to point out two tihngs.

1.  Pepper Mills is a great porn name.

2. This thread is very disappointing.

While I'm not about to go hook up a mill to my makita, I can't believe I never thought of using a spare mill for spices. Damn! Anyone try this? I wonder at how the mechanism would engage the spices. My first thought would be putting in a couple sticks of cinnamon...

I just use a super-cheap blade-type coffee grinder (http://www.amazon.com/Toastmaster-1119-Coffee-Grinder/dp/B000GKNYMK/ref=sr_1_11?ie=UTF8&s=home-garden&qid=1264693918&sr=8-11) for spices.

People have been using coffee grinders for grinding spices forever. I don't use mine very often, but the one I have has a removable hopper so you can dump out the spices.  I also have a cheap old coffee grinder that you have to scoop it out and it's a pain in the butt.  My mother even used an old manual coffee grinder for grinding stuff when I was little.  You can get grinders just for spices, too.  Some of them come with different bowls so you can switch spices easily.  I don't know if they make an electric one of those though.

If you have an electricity outage it's always nice to have a manual grinder and a french press around if you only use beans so you can drink cup after cup while you wait for the power to come back on.   My sister has our old family grinder and they have a LOT of outages so it really comes in handy.  I keep meaning to get one for myself.  Until then, I'll keep a bag of ground beans in the freezer just in case.

If yours was big and black then I have the same mill. I wouldn't have shelled out for it myself, but got it as a housewarming gift from my aunt. It works like a charm and I get the feeling I'll still have it in ten years time.