Peugeot is now known as a french manufacturer that makes car. However, before they ventured into automotive, they were one of the best manufacturer of pepper grinder in the world. There are many different iteration of these Pepper Mills, but the most famous is the Paris shape. They have now designed a version called Peugeot Paris U’select Pepper Mill to eliminate the guesswork out of the pepper grind setting. Unfortunately, in an attempt to solve a problem, other problem arises. This review will look at what makes Peugeot U’select Pepper Mill good and bad, what unique feature it has and what it does right and wrong.

Peugeot Paris U’select Pepper Mill Review Quick Summary

Categories	Peugeot Paris Pepper Mill
Performance	Good
Colors	Range of Colors
Warranty	Lifetime Warranty on Grinding Mechanism, not the Wooden Body
Brand Awareness	World Famous
Country of Manufacturer	France
Thoughts	A classic french pepper mill. However, in their attempt to zero in on grind adjustment, they made it worse. I actually prefer the Original Classic Version better.
Reviewed Cookware	Peugeot Paris 12 inch Pepper Mill

Design

Peugeot Paris U’select fine Grind Adjustment

The shape of this pepper mill follows the design of the Peugeot paris pepper mill. The difference is the added mechanism near the bottom of the pepper mill. Looking at the bottom you can see there is an additional plastic ring that allows for a finer adjustment. Compared with your normal version, there is just the pepper grinder mechanism.

How the pepper grind setting work is that the burr grinder will move up and down. The smaller the gap between the grinding mechanism, the finer it is, the wider the gap, the coarser it is. The idea of this is not a bad one, however the implementation of this could be better.

The problem that arises is that the traditional way of adjusting the grind setting is still there. What happens is that when you adjust the grind setting at the bottom of the pepper mill, you have to remember to tighten the screw on the top. Furthermore with use, the screw become loose and then your setting will be thrown off. You then will be tempted to tighten it really tight to remedy the solution.

I tried that and what I found is that paint between the top part and the body started coming off. As you can see in the picture below.

Cole & Mason actually have a pepper grinder that is very similar with a better implementation of this design. Instead of keeping the screw on top, they removed it and used a pop off latch mechanism. This way the only way you can adjust the setting is with the adjustment mechanism on the bottom.

More Issues with the Adjustment Setting

Another issue with the mechanism is when you go from a bigger grind setting to a smaller one. The bigger chunk of pepper will be lodge in between the mechanism. When that happen, it will be very difficult to tighten it. What you can do to remedy this is to flip the mill upside down and then grind it off. If you do not flip it, more peppers will just get stuck, continuing the problem.

Peugeot Paris U’select Pepper Chamber

The body to hold the pepper is a straight barrel downward and it looks like a drill was used to make a hole in the center. The metal rod that sticks up is the connection between the bottom grinding mechanism with the top knob. When you turn the knob, the rod rotates turning the grinder on the bottom.

In the center of the body, the plastic piece looks like it is there mainly to keep it stable so that when you put the knob back on, you do not have to struggle to align it. In the picture below, you can see the metal plate has flat notches to facilitate turning and to hold the rod in place.

Different Size but Same Grinding Mechanism

There are many different size for this pepper grinder. What is interesting is that across these different sizes, the grinding mechanism size stay the same. Below, you will see a couple of different grinder of varying size. When I measure the size with a caliper, they were virtually the same. The depth of the bottom to the grinding mechanism is at varying length.

You can see that the yellow grinding mechanism is close to the bottom of the grinder, the silver metal one is pushed more up top, leaving less room for peppers. I am assuming the reason for this is because the bottom pepper grinding mechanism needs to be attached to the main body. In order to maintain a proportionate design of the Peugeot Paris U’select Pepper Mill, the base needs to be enlarged to match, but I am just assuming.

When you purchase the larger Peugeot Paris U’select Pepper Mill, the main thing you are getting is a larger capacity pepper grinder.

Fit and Finish

The paint seems really well done on the yellow model, there is almost a mirror finish with no orange peel on it. You do have to be careful when selecting it though. The white model that I have has pitting on the paint. Most people would not be aware of this but it is a flaw in the fit and finish. If you are worried about the paint issue, I recommend that you get one of those natural wood finish model which does not have that problem.

The marking that lets you know the grind setting is also painted on, with time, those numbers/marking will rub off. Engraving it probably would have been better.

At the bottom of the pepper grinder, there is also visual difference in thickness. The shape of it is still round on the outside but inside it is a bit misshapen.

Finally, the metal plate on the top knob also seems to be slightly off center.
With that being said, most of this mill is machine made.

To get an idea on how its manufactured. look at the video below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IXtoVrjrVN8

Specs

Yellow Pepper Grinder
Weight: 361g with Peppers 323g no pepper
Capacity: 38g of pepper

Peugeot Paris U’select Pepper Mill Performance Yield

The pepper grinder was marked with a tape and each setting was turned a revolution of 5 times at each setting. Before the test was performed the screw was tightened by hand.
I: 1g

II: 0g

III: 1g

IIII: 0g

IIIII: 1g

IIIIII:1g

Total Weight of everything: 4g

I really do not understand why some of the higher grind setting produce 0g, when the lower setting yield 1g. It might be due to the fact that my scale can not detect .1g difference. I would have to get a more sensitive scale and retest this. The total weight is still in line with the other result though.

Peugeot Pepper Mill Thoughts

Puegeot use to be known as the best pepper mill grinder in the world, now they are known for their cars. The design of this pepper mill can be better if only they have installed a fixed top like the version that Cole and Mason Derwent has. Not only that, the grinding of the paint is a bit of a concern I recommend loosening the screw a bit to prevent this issue. I feel that with a few modification, this pepper mill can stand out as one of the best out there.

With all that in mind, I still like it, there is a reason why I have so many of them. The Paris Shape is a classic one that comes in many different color and sizes

I hope you like this Peugeot Paris U’select Pepper Mill Review, If you would like to see more, please visit our Kitchen Gadgets Review page.