u'Select manual pepper mill in natural wood, 18 cm

Oh. My. God. This thing is MAGNIFICENT. I pulled it from the box with great trepidation because I bought another brand, the Trudeau 071322 Excalibur, and it had big flaws and a rusty screw on the grinding mechanism with the chrome plating worn off of the mechanism, and the replacement was really rusted over. Go over there and see the photos, I'm not kidding. After two of those Trudeau demo units/factory rejects, I was over it and decided to spend twice the money and get this Peugeot, hoping they would do it right and give me a flawless product. They did. I liked the darker chocolate color, but reasoned that with this natural color Peugeot, they couldn't hide any flaws behind paint or stain. Wise move, if I don't say so myself. This thing looks better in your hand than in the photo. Beautiful. Where the Trudeau had rough turnings with more raspy cross-grain grooves turned on lathes with dull tools and were lacking enough sanding and stain, this Peugeot has totally smooth grooves and beads, and was sanded to a very fine and smooth finish. Just beautiful. Somebody there really takes great pride in his work. I looked underneath at the grinder mechanism and it was spotless and new, unlike the trash that was dumped on me twice by the people at Trudeau. It's hard not to just caress this thing in your hands like a beautiful woman. The curves...the smoothness...the attention to detail. Who would think that a pepper mill could be downright sexy? I'll have to see if this thing can be modified with a Fleshlight insert...but I digress. Since the teeth of the mill draw the peppercorns down into the mechanism as you turn the top clockwise, I figured it goes to reason that the reverse would be true. The first thing I wanted to do is see how finely it would grind. I thought that somebody might have ground some pepper in it before, and I wanted all of the large particles out of the grinding mechanism so it would be at minimum tolerances for the level 1 grinding. SO...I turned the pepper mill upside down, then turned the top counterclockwise, pulling any bits of pepper out of the mechanism to the inside of the storage compartment! This cleared the mechanism of all peppercorn pieces. Then I turned it right side up again. With it set on level 1, I commenced to grinding, and it made a really nice and fine powder. Not like flour or anything, but a very nice fine grind. What is that I smell wafting up to my nares? I then leaned close and gently sniffed the pepper aroma. Aaaaaaahhh...I'm in love. Then it was time to max out the size and see what that looked like. Nice, decent sized pieces, but not so big as to be obnoxious. I could see putting these on a steak and pounding them into the meat. I love the markings on the wood to select the grind size, and the Peugeot logo. They're tastefully applied and in a nicely contrasting brown color, not stark black. This natural wood is really beautiful and flawless, I could not be happier. I've never held a nicer pepper mill in my hands. These Peugeot boys have this s*** down. If you want a big wooden peppermill that looks great and puts out the perfect grind, look no further. I'm just giddy about it. People at work have been laughing at my excitement about a pepper mill. They don't understand. I'm not going to make them understand by transporting my treasured Peugeot to work, where some jackhole might drop it on a concrete floor or lose the nut off the top. They can keep their grubby mitts off of my U'Select. They can't believe I spent $90 on a pepper mill, but I'm the kind of guy who feels this way: if you're going to buy something you have to live with, make it quality. Spend the extra bucks to get great performance and value. It only hurts when you lay down the money. From then on, you're in paradise every time you use it. I also bought an OXO, which is a great little grinder, for guests, but they better keep their stinkin' hooks off of my Peugeot Paris U'Select, or they'll draw back nubs! I never thought I'd say something good about France, but Peugeot earned it! Five stars!!! UPDATE: I ate some fish, shrimp and basmati rice two nights ago, and it just didn't taste as good as the night before. Then it came to me at about 3:30 in the morning as I woke up from a dead sleep: somehow I forgot to use the Peugeot Paris U'Select to apply some pepper! I was pissed off the rest of the night and the next day!!! You know, when I'm about to die and somebody asks if I have any regrets, that will be the one.

I wish I had this pepper mill sooner!! I've been buying the plastic ones with integrated grinder from Trader Joe's and this is a fabulous upgrade that's also better for the environment. So, this is how the other half lives! They get to choose how finely their pepper is ground and the grinder operates with perfect smoothness and the grinder is a beautiful object. 10/10 no notes.

I know it may be hard to swallow: $50 for a pepper grinder! I mean... That can sound silly. Well... After buying this, I don't think you will buy another one... Ever... This looks very well-made and sturdy. The quality is quite astonishing, actually. The wood feels nice and smooth, the mechanics look simple and not easy to break, and the, dare-I-say: "Brass" knob at the top is very, very nice and heavy. All that to say that: Yes, is it expensive and pretty? You bet... BUT... It gets even better. The grinder as settings at the bottom that are SUPER EASY to read and change. It's literally on the side of the pepper grinder. There are 6 settings in total from fine to coarse grinds. IT'S AWESOME So, yes, do you still kind of think that this is expensive? YES, but it's SO worth it. This totally looks like an heirloom, like a good Le Creuset Pot, or something. I mean... This would make a great present for a wedding, a housewarming party, or simple to your best friend who likes cooking (DO IT. I wish someone had done that for me... Kim, I hope you're reading this. :P Wink-Wink for the future. I may need one for white pepper after all, hummmmmk.). Great buy! :P

Solid construction, works best towards the coarse setting but that’s my personal preference for pepper grind. Chocolate color looks sophisticated and was discounted at the time of purchase. Very happy.

Had this grinder a little over 4 years and the mechanism has completely stopped performing on any setting. Pepper had not been flowing too freely from this for quite a while prior to complete breakdown but since it has such a great reputation I thought it might be something I was doing-not at all. Had to jump through hoops to place a request for warranty service and now I am waiting to see what they propose to do about it. So strange that this is so highly rated in general, but certainly not on Amazon as per all the one star reviews. Update: Peugeot took three weeks to respond to my initial claim and handled it by requesting a photo of the product I use in my mill! (along with ten other helpful hints as to what I might have been doing incorrectly). They followed that request, to which I responded, with another request asking me (if you can believe this) what millimeters in size my peppercorns were-some are evidently too large to suit their grinders. Their persistence and creativity in attempting to evade honoring their warranty deserves a prize-a booby prize. I wrote them back and sent a photo of some peppercorns purchased in the past. I can only hope they will not dare to ask me anything else prior to sending me a replacement, but if they do, at this point I do not care as my sense is that this mill is non-functioning or poor-functioning and life is too short to own it anyway. Shame on Peugeot.

Quality product, very attractive

This product is better than I thought.

Grear traditional seasoning mill, very effective, looka lovely

Buena marca, buen producto.

Love this pepper mill. Beautifully made, works perfectly. Very speedy delivery.

存在感もあり、色の落ち着き感もありで大満足です。 ただ、底が高くなっているので、斜めに使用すると底の壁に胡椒がたまり、まとめて落ちることがあり、注意が必要でした。