Re: The backpacking stove I use
- From: "y_p_w" <y_p_w@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: 10 Apr 2007 11:35:50 -0700
On Apr 2, 5:30 am, Mary Malmros <malm...@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
I use an esbit stove. The fuel is light and doesn't leak, and I don't ever
have to do more than boil water, anyway.
At $10 I thought it was worth a try. I used one tablet and tried to
boil 16 oz of water in a stainless-steel (copper bottom) 1 qt saucepan
at night. The ends were in the locked diagonal position where the pot
fit nicely and the flame was closer to the pot. A little bit windy on
my brick front-porch, but a little bit of aluminum foil under the
stove and folded up along the open ends served as my windscreen.
I couldn't get the Esbit tablet to light with a regular Zippo
lighter. I just couldn't get the flame in position where it would
light the tablet. I'd probably have cotton stuffed in as tinder for a
real trip. I used a regular kitchen match instead. Once it lit, I
used a stopwatch to figure how long it took to boil. At about 8-9
minutes it was sort of boiling although it wasn't a full boil. It was
still burning, but the flame was noticeably low. It was completely
burned out in about 13-14 minutes. In those conditions, I think maybe
8 oz of water might have been appropriate for one tablet.
The tablets do sort of have a "fishy" smell to them, although nowhere
near as stinky as the cheap Chinese-made tabs I tried over the
weekend. I read one review noting that bears have actually been
attracted to the smell of Esbit tablets and even ate them on occasion;
the recommendation was to hang them with food. They burned extremely
clean with only a mild smell. The flame was nicely contained inside
the stove. The residue on the pot didn't seem to be more than just
soot. The tablet left a small unburned bit stuck to the tray, but it
scraped off easily. The box said they didn't liquify, but I noticed a
bit of the tablet at the bottom seemed to do just that and boil a bit.
I do like the size and construction of the Esbit stove. I've heard of
some uses of it for alcohol. Maybe an Altoids or shoe polish tin with
steel wool would be more economical and easier to light. In the end,
I'll probably get a gas burner with an igniter, since I like my
instant oatmeal and tea really hot. ;-)
.
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