Review: Unicorn Magnum Plus pepper mill

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Most days I want freshly-ground Tellicherry pepper on something I eat, so most days I use a pepper mill.

I have used an Oxo mill for the past several years. It’s generally okay for seasoning table food, but it’s always been inadequate for adding black pepper to recipes, or to anything else for which I want a significant quantity. (For example, when I dip raw vegetables into bleu cheese dressing, I like to cover the top of the little dish of dressing completely with pepper and mix it in, and that takes a long time with the Oxo.)

So not long after a recent peppercorn purchase, I started seeing Facebook ads for a Kickstarter project for a high-capacity pepper mill for $199.

One hundred ninety-nine dollars. For a pepper mill.

Now, I’m not a candidate for a $199 pepper mill. In fact, my income and net worth could both quadruple and I still wouldn’t be a candidate for a $199 pepper mill. I did notice, though, that every ad mentioned the Unicorn Magnum or Magnum Plus as the unit this one was supposedly besting.

So now I have a Unicorn Magnum Plus. And I’m in love.

Unicorn Mills sends you to Amazon.com to get their stuff, so that’s where I got my Magnum Plus. The exterior is all plastic, but it looks good sitting on the counter or table. The “Plus” is the extra height over the Magnum (9″ vs. 6″). That height means it will hold over a cup of peppercorns, loaded through the twist-to-access port near the top. To adjust the grind size, turn the thumbscrew on the bottom. I like a pretty robust size, but I played with it a bit to make sure it would deliver different sizes consistently. It does.

The bottom, showing the adjustment thumbscrew.

Oh, my goodness, will this thing set down some pepper. Look at the difference between one full turn of my Oxo mill and one full turn of the Magnum Plus:

Want some pork tenderloin with your pepper? (Click for larger.)

Now, $59 is right at four times what my Oxo pepper mill cost. However, I think this is an excellent example of good money spent on a premium daily-use product. If something is important to you daily (or nearly so), and there’s a significant difference in the quality of the experience with a little (especially one-time) expense, then I say go for it. (You’ll never catch me with a cheap pen either. And $59 isn’t $199, is it?)

There are apparently some rather robust metal bits of Italian manufacture inside that are responsible for all of this grinding goodness. And though I’ve only had my Magnum Plus for a week and therefore can’t comment firsthand on longevity, I’ll think of those metal bits when I say my confidence is high I’ll have this marvelous tool for quite a while.

10/10

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