Yes, I let myself be tempted by the many good reviews. The first impression was also first - Positive: massive, very pretty stone + ram, hard - as it should be for mortars (here I do not understand how, due to the heavy weight and / or size have been deducted from the valuation of some star - dimensions and weight are still in the product description !!), my mortar weighed 2250g, the plunger 680g - so far so good. Looking closely at the rest, however, was - Negative: the smoothly polished surface outside all around covered with small "potholes", inside not properly milled, that he is a bit rougher and grooves has, is actually not a disadvantage, but was in the ground with my additional recess with a small nipple in center, who was clearly out there and yes - as feared, the stone dust abrasion is enormous. Despite repeated crushing of uncooked rice grains and repeatedly ausschrubben no improvement. The sea salt with black cumin, which I made on a trial basis, so smelled unpleasantly of stone dust that no family member wanted to try. This simply unfit for use in the kitchen - Retour. A word about the many positive reviews - some of which are actually incurred solely due to the optics, without the mortar was ever used or tested as directed. That's not the whole point !!!