Accumulated empties and now would like to refill with pepper corns
I took one 'sacrificial' unit and tried to disassemble, cutting and slicing, but still haven't figured out how it's held together.
Any ideas on HOW to take one apart? refill, and put back together?
Rather that do that, buy a decent pepper mill and just buy peppercorns to grind. Long term, better pepper, lower cost.
They're made of glass with a plastic cap. McCormic's business model would fall apart if they could be refilled.
It's really simple, you buy one, you use it, you throw it out.
I don't use enough pepper to worry about the waste.
Followup:
Use pliers or a screwdriver.
Google for details.
That's what I did with the one from Costco. It sits upside down on its cap so I made a hole in the nominal bottom then taped over it. I melted the hole with a soldering iron so I wouldn't have to eat so much plastic later on. Exercising lack of foresight, I opened up nearly the whole end instead of sizing it to the funnel I used, or making the hole by just jabbing the iron in to then feeding the replacement peppercorns in one at a time.
Glass complicates things a bit.
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Sometimes I really wonder why some people work so hard to save 50 cents.....
Anyhow, I have a friend that works at a fast food place. Once a month, or maybe every 2 or 3 weeks, they replace all the salt and pepper shakers on the tables. They get them pre-filled. They do not come apart. It appears that the bottom was inserted last. I have a feeling they are glued, sort of like a PVC pipe. Anyhow, whether they are full or empty, they are required to dispose of them and put all new ones on the tables. Personally, I think this is very wasteful, but that's the way it is. She said that they were told that they are more sanitary this way!
Anyhow, she was bringing them home with her and has hundreds of them. She gave me a whole box of them. Most are at least half full. There must be 15 of each in the box. She said if I need more, just ask her....
You probably have the same thing. Glued after being filled.
Go buy a REAL pepper grinder!
Robert, I too am a cheap skate and hated to toss the quite acceptable McCormick grinder. What works really well for me was to heat the plastic top under tap water in the microwave and pull it straight out while warm. Refill. Push the top back on. I've reloaded one 4 times now and it still works fine.
I like ground pepper. I had 2 bottles of pepper corns and the pepper mills I owned had worn out.
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