Backpacking Stoves I Wish I Tried Sooner! 

Check out Garage Grown Gear: geni.us/m2tzeVo Stoves From This Video: MSR Pocket Rocket: geni.us/v2Yi MSR Windburner: geni.us/i8ez MSR Whisperlite: geni.us/F5GFS6F Toaks Wood Stove: geni.us/Y55E Vargo Solid Fuel Stove: geni.us/PFAP4lN Vargo Alcohol Stove: geni.us/nisld Pill Bottle Stove: geni.us/pHXY1C And Here Too: geni.us/gksFPG

a tip on solid fuel stoves - pop ino just about any home depot or lowes and check out their grill section. you will almost always be able to find the weber charcoal lighter cubes, which are the same solid fuel. you can get a 24 pack for about $6

I am an ex Overland Expeditions Leader for trans Africa wild camping journeys and others in different countries, you mentioned that with an open flame, you get a black sooty cover on the outside of your pots while cooking. I have done this for years and the trick is to smear washing up liquid (or similar washing soap you will carry anyway) quickly over all of the outside of the pots before putting them over the flame. You can use this for ages and still easily wipe off the blackness when cool with a bit of water instead of scrubbing them clean. It is very easy to do and I am always surprised that it is not widely known about on outdoor videos. Try it and see what I mean.

I use a small folding burner that my grandpa got in the army 60+ years ago. It uses hexamine tablets that are very common here. With it being so sturdy, my nephew might inherit it in the future. 😀

Based entirely on this review, I bought the pizza-stone stove, and have been absolutely loving it. There's a version with larger stones, in a small paint can, that holds enough fuel for a week on the trail and weighs next to nothing. I'm really happy with it, and the guy on Etsy who sells them is excellent about responding to questions and giving advice. Thanks so much for the tip!

In the Army, I carried an Esbit stove everywhere; it was always good for a hot beverage or to heat up a soup or (pre heat tab) MRE. Then I figured out that I could accomplish the same thing without the stove, just using a rock to contain the flames from the heat tab, and a couple of slightly thicker rocks or sticks to support my canteen cup. I’ve used this technique for backpacking ever since, supplemented by actual campfire cooking occasionally, but I’m intrigued by the pill bottle stove.

Methinks one important difference between these stoves is whether you can actually cook on them (simmering ability, heat output) or really realistically only boil water (esbit/alcohol stoves), the latter being completely fine for coffee or freeze dried food.

It is worth mentioning that during fire restrictions in the U.S. National Forests, parks, and grasslands, you have to be able to use a switch or valve to turn off the fire or it could mean a hefty fine. Always scrape away the duff and other flammable material so that you are turning above mineral soil.

Prepare for soot in advance, by coating the outside of pots, pans, and coffee pots with liquid soap. Best camp trick I learned from 4H as a small sprout learning woods survival... right after changing underwear and socks before getting in my bag at night 😁

I'm still using the Whisperlite stove I bought in 1987. Still reliable and easy to use as it was when I bought it 36 years ago.

That pill bottle stove has me super intrigued. Would love to see a follow up video comparing this to other alcohol stoves.

One disadvantage of solid fuel stoves that is seldom discussed is that they often burn "dirty" and leave greasy soot all over your pot. It seems like a minor issue but it can become a real pain. Unless you are really really careful when using and packing, the soot will go EVERYWHERE.

Your delivery is very good. Quick but not too fast, hitting all the main points, no fillers or other useless things. Thank you for making this.

A tip about Esbit, normally as you burn it, it produces less heat as it gets smaller, but normally you need more heat towards the end to get it to boil. Depending on the amount of water and the wind this sometimes produced a fail to boil at the end of the tablet, needing a second tablet if you want it boiled. So I start with the leftover tablet of the last burn (Esbit is easy to blow out), to start heating the water and finish it off with the new tablet to bring it to a boil. The downside is that the Esbit seems to be a bit more odorous when stored after a partial burn, though after a multi-day long distance hike there are other odors to cover that.

I use a "SoloStove"... and after using it I am sure that other handmade/cottage designs would work well. Been using mine for over 10 years now, I spent a winter cooking on it in the Oregon forest aka snow and below freezing for weeks ... I also walked with it for about 1000mi, rough estimate. It's the best by far and if you plan ahead and learn to keep the right wood/materials on hand - you never have to worry at all about it. Pine - Redwood - Cedar - Pitch matches - storm matches - jute twine - pine needles - oak sticks - cardboard... just wrap it in a plastic bag and keep it dry, keep a bic on you (you do anyway already)... you'll never carry a fuel can again. ...clear the ground at least even if you are using a gas stove, I got triggered seeing the start of this video.

The pizza-stone stove could be improved in terms of performance and safety by punching some air holes in an empty food can and putting the pizza stones in the can, so the can could act as a windscreen and a stand for your mug.

I love my MSR whisperlite from the 80s. Use gasoline while bikepacking and can find smaller MSR fuel bottles to cut back on pack volume and weight. I tuck it into my frame bag on my bike and can fit the fuel bottle in a standard bike water bottle cage. Considering they can be found for a bargain used, and can be serviced indefinitely, I think they are actually a fantastic performer all around and outperform many of the other stoves in several metrics. Just my 2 cents of course. My pocket rocket deluxe felt cheap and the mesh airizer that breaks up the fuel into a finer mist keeps popping out of place. Can’t beat the MSR whisperlite in terms of build quality. that things been kicking around for 40 years for a reason.

Things have changed so much since I started bushwalking in the 80’s. The MSR international was king even though they could be temperamental things to get going. They were the days when we’d brag about how heavy our pack was, not how light 😂

I love this kind of stuff. I spent 3 years homeless and the first year was in Wisconsin it started in the winter. The best for heat and cooking was a rocket stove, cost less than 50 bucks. It takes some work, but it heated up a tin can travel trailer or a tent or a box. They sometimes require a wind screen, but a cinder block worked perfect.

While in the FDF/military, we used trangia stoves, and oh man I love them so much. Pots and pans with the alcohol burner and so much more, all fitting into a nice compact package.

"Before you click off because you think you know the answer..." turns out the answer was the one we expected with a slight twist. Mindblowing stuff.

I got a foldable titanium woodstove. Very lightweight and very small when folded. I know it’s performance is not in the same league as modern stoves but I really like it. Gathering fuel during the hike. The pure joy of achievement when creating fire with sticks and scrapesteel. The smell of campfire when you open the small bottle of whisky you saved for this occasion. 😄

I picked up a Trangia last September, aaaaand it’s amazing. It’s maybe not “THE BEST” according to “the experts,” but the shelf life of the fuel, the overall package (two pots and one pan with a grabber handle) and ability to do “proper cooking” as I heard one English backpacker say, makes it a top notch product in my book. I have an entire kitchen in a fairly small package that’s dead nuts reliable for backpacking and emergency scenarios.

Gosh, I'm still using my brass Svea 123 white gas stove with an aluminum Sigg Tourist Cookset that I bought in 1974. It's basically a blowtorch but it gets the job done.I'm not concerned too much with speed, except when I'm really hungry and that makes everything taste fantastic.

"People have been cooking using fire for years", kind of an understatement 😂

Surface area. When the pill bottle stove ripped over it exposed the other sides to an already hot alcohol which likely caused the rest of the remaining alcohol to gasify and burn off really quickly. Great video btw. I've used alcohol stoves for years and my entire setup weights in at just over two ounces. Once again, great work here.

That's a cool new twist on a stove. My idea would be to have one that's about the size of a hockey puck or just smaller maybe the size and thickness of a can of chewing tobacco (not something I partake of). Then you could have a small metal or titanium pop up like an esbit or British Army BCB that doubles as a pot stand and wind screen with shelf for the stone to lay on, keeping it off the ground and also doubling as a solid fuel stove as well.

I didn't intend to watch all of this video but your no nonsense and quick talking kept me hooked. Well done. 👍

I use a small aluminum jar with a screw-on lid (like those for creams and makeup) with rock wool soaked in alcohol inside. The rock wool is fireproof and holds the alcohol avoiding risks in case of accidental spills. While ethyl alcohol can be found just about anywhere so it doesn't give compatibility problems like some gas canisters cheap, compact , lightweight, does not give compatibility problems and above all is safe

It’s been great following along with your channel and seeing your subscriber numbers jump up so quickly. You’re concise, to the point, and you make even topics like backpacking stoves genuinely interesting. I’m happy to see you get some recognition for the hard work and looking forward to seeing where this channel goes in 2023!

I still love the roar of my first stove, my MSR Dragonfly, which I bought after college after I saved up from my 1st job. Still running strong after 20+ years, so many great memories from it 😍

Thank you, although I'm 71 years old and never went camping I couldn't help enjoy your video! For emergency situations where you have lost electricity your camping reviews helped me decide on what I could use and have in a prep bag. Again thank you.

I got the pucks because of your video and have found them to be fantastic little troopers. My thanks to you, sir!

Woodgas stoves are my favourite. Burn from the top down. Virtually smokeless and very cheap fuel. Not lightweight, and it soots up your pots and pans. It can also use twigs as fuel so you'll never run out of fuel in the wild. Well worth a try

I’ve stuck with my Coleman F1 gas stove for years. It’s so tiny yet so powerful. I remember a Coleman rep who was in an outdoor store years ago and he said to me ‘This is something that will impress you’ , it did and I’ve used one ever since. I can fit it into the palm of my hand and close up my hand around it.

If you work in construction or the trades and want hot meals and easy coffee on the job, the jet boil is the undisputed king. Grab heat proof bag, throw a bunch of Ramen stuff in there, I'm partial to spring noodle packets, dehydrated mushrooms and green onions, and tuna, and just throw in boiling water 20 minutes before you want to eat. The weight doesn't matter in its in your truck or lunchbox, and it's so nice to have hot meals, especially in winter.

I have had a Primus Omni Fuel stove for so many years. Got it back in the days of volunteering for a Search and Rescue team in Washington State. That little stove will burn any flammable fuel from liquid paraffin to alcohol. I have used Olive Oil in it even. Pricy and mine probably could not be repaired today if it broke, but I have boiled pots with a couple gallons of water in them.

I have a $12 Chinese canister stove that is a rip off over the MSR pocket rocket. It works almost as good as the MSR. It is a little bit more sensitive to wind. These are great stoves as gifts for Boy Scouts. I sent a couple with fuel to nephew serving in Afghanistan. He said it worked great.

Of all the stoves I've had, the two that had the best "endurance" was a solid fuel wood stove and a Trangia alcohol stove (the latter seemed to operate really well even in high winds!) The reason I appreciate alcohol stoves is that methylated spirit is easily bought from any hardware or supermarket (don't need to find a camping store like the gas stoves), and the solid fuel wood stove worked anywhere there were trees. Rocket stoves work well but are heavy :(

I ditched canisters 15 years back. The adventures in stoving blog is an amazing resource.

Excellent breakdown! I use the beer can (skinny cans work best) alcohol stove and love it. Only issue I ran into was getting the flame to go out when finished. Had an incident where I thought the flame was extinguished but wasn't due to the flames sometimes being hard to see. Long story short grabbed the can, burned myself, and dropped the still burning fuel on my sit pad which caught fire and melted. So...I now use the bottom half of a full sized can as a means of smothering the flame. Works great and only added a few grams to the total weight of my cook set. Additionally I made my windscreen out of a foil roasting pan, tons of how-to's on how to do that on the interwebs.

That pill solution could probably work with other liquid fuels too, which could make it a great option. Also for the knocking down, you can probably easily make an easy tripod stand for pots ontop of it

I think that the pill bottle stove disk should work in a folding sterno stove. It would give you a place to set them with a wind screen and a stable cooking surface.

pillbottle stove sounds great, packs up tiny and weighs little, just need to dig a base for it so it doesn't fall over. could also use it as a reusable starter for larger fires

I started with a butane stove in '74 that didn't really put out enough heat and then switched to a Svea 123 (white fuel). While I loved the aesthetic of that stove, after many years I tired of the preheat ritual and the blowtorch effect on my cookware. Switched to an MSR WindPro stove around '06 which, because the burner is separate from the canister, has a low center of gravity and also wide pot support. Very stable. I also like that the canister is away from the burner unit. The subtle flame control and a wider burner ring means you can actually cook something more complicated than boiling water.

I'm intrigued by the pillbox stove idea - I think the fact that it discharges when knocked over is a plus for safety. I could think of several ways to increase it's output and convenience such as raising it off the ground/reflector a little and increasing it's surface area by spacing the cylinders off each other. also, 3 pairs could be used to balance the cup better.

The fact that the stone fire went out when it tipped has to be a plus

I had the best wood burning stove when I was younger but I couldn’t remember the name. Turned out it’s a sierra stove, cook and boil water pretty well on pine cones and twigs. Not ultralight, but they make a titanium version now and the fact that there is basically unlimited fuel is a major plus in my book

Im intrigued by the stone stove. I hope you do a more indepth video of it. One stove that doesn't get enough attention is Sterno Stove. Probably because you can't get the anymore. It looked like a jetboil but sat on top of a sterno can of fuel. The boil time was about 4 -5 mins. But you could fit 2 sterno cans inside of it along with the lighter. And when the water boils, you just lift it off the sterno can and put the lid back on the sterno snuffing out the flame. Nothing to spill and the fire was contained. I may have to start using it again. I stopped in 2019 when I hiked the AT and wasn't sure how available sterno would be on the trail.

In winter, you can use the adapters to put propane in your cannisters, eliminating the cold weather issue with butane.

I just love that there are so many options. A Caldera Cone is a great addition to an alcohol stove (and could be used with some of these other options).

Gasifying wood stove made from tin cans has always worked best for me. It would still score low on your scale, but it's my go-to where I live.

I've been using a MSR Dragonfly since the nineties, and have really liked its performance in cold weather using white gas. It's a bit heavy at 14 oz but is really useful for cooking as it will support larger pots. I have serviced it once by replacing o rings, and have found it very reliable. There was a learning curve about how much fuel to use to prime the stove, but once you master that, it's very simple to use.

I have a tried and true MSR stove, but that pill bottle idea intrigues me. I love how light weight it is and I actually like that it goes out if knocked over, almost a safety feature by accident. I think I might give that a shot my next backpacking trip.

The Whisperlite is the only stove I would want to take in deep winter. None of the other stoves can melt snow as effectively as that one

Similar to the wood stove you described, I have always used the standard US Army canteen cup, and the cup stand with which you can either use Trioxane tablets, or in which you can build a twig fire. All of these components fit in the standard canteen cover which attaches to a pistol belt. There are any of a number of "Canteen Cup" recipes which can be used when backpacking, in addition to a standard cup of soup. It is hard to improve on some of the old military gear.

for alcohol stoves I found the best are the diy fancy feast ones with carbon felt

I’ve carried an old SVEA 123 white gas stove for over a half century. It has made it up El Cap and Half Dome. Still works flawlessly. Fits in a kit like the old WWI two man bivvy stove, which, BTW, is also excellent if you could find one.

I just found your channel and I love your delivery, conciseness, point system. I'll be binging your vids tonight. Big Kudos.

Thanks for sharing. This is a good summary of the various stove systems out there. Especially appreciate the note to check where these are legal and safe to use. Here in California, white gas and wood are largely prohibited due to fire danger. At certain times, no stoves of any kind are allowed in the back country. I have alcohol (trangia), white gas (whisperlite), canister (pocket rocket 2), integrated (windburner) and twig (solo stove lite). Which stove is best for me depends on conditions. The most used is the windburner because I usually backpack in areas of high wind (desert and mountains), nothing comes close. The most fun is the twig stove, but only at campsites with fire rings. It's cool to watch the gasification effect. Haven't used alcohol or white gas stoves in a long time, but they are unbreakable.

During the pandemic when fuel canisters were getting gobbled up, I started using the White Box alcohol stove. As you mention, denatured alcohol is readily available, cheap and fairly easy to use. It even got me watching the 'prepper" youtubers - LOL. I use it for shorter trips when I want to be extra light and only (as you mention) when going to wetter areas. It does great.

I started Backpacking in the late 1960's. My first stove was a metal planters Peanut can with the bottom cut out and heavy duty wire bail over the top. The heat source was a can of Sterno and that was locked into the can with plastic lid that fit the peanut can. It was fast lighting , cooked quickly and I could have hot soup when everyone else was munching granola. I could pack the stove up quickly when it was time to continue. I eventually got a white gas stove and later in the 1980's a butane stove but I always fondly remember that Sterno stove and it cost nothing to make.

If you're getting soot on your mug, put some oil on the bottom before burn. 3 in 1 or something might work. We always used rifle oil for the bottom of mess tins, once you've finished, the soot and crap wipes right off with little to no effort - a godsend when it comes to kit inspection. 🤣

Interesting video. I'll get myself a pair of those rocks. I have a whole range of different stoves like the ones featured here and I like the alcohol stove the most. Cooking time is not an issue for me and the only downside is the availability when you're out in the woods. I make my own wind screen from a disposable barbecue plate which sell for less than a dollar after summer. Those barbecue plates have ventilation holes already. Roll it flat, put two slim sticks on the sides for support in the ground, fold it in three parts and you're good to go for a few seasons.

The pill bottle stove could probably be used effectively in a folding esbit stove, for stability.

The toaks mini alcohol stove is hard to beat in my testing. I use it with the Sterno inferno pot and stand, setup is well under $100 and has never failed me. The mini stove is fine for cook with a skillet too.

I’ve settled on a Trangia alcohol stove. Small light and doesn’t disturb the peace. I’m not an overnighter, just day hiking. It’s great for a couple cups of coffee and bag meals.

Very good review. I used to use the Army issued canteen cup and stove with trioxane tablets. The trioxane got too expensive so I went to several tealight candles. They took longer to make a pint boil but they are much cheaper. By cutting down on the number of candles, I was able to simmer or just keep it hot. I like to have tealights in my survival kits for light, heat(hot poncho), and for cooking. Good Luck, Rick

I've always stuck with my Trangia, they are heavier than a canister stove but their versatility and safety are brill. And if you do need to lighten the load you can just leave some pots and pans behind.

In the 1970s I hiked all over the southwest using a 1930s coffee can hobo stove. If I were still backpacking today it would be my no. 1 choice.

Thank you for your comparison videos. It's not often that you come across quality comparison videos on YT. Keep up your good work.

The firebrick stove is a really old idea, but this is a really great refining of the concept. A few years ago…ok, more like 30…a fellow from the Sierra Club had a small bottle with lava stones from a barbecue soaking in zippo fuel. He took one out with a pair of tweezers and lit it in a cat food can, and began adding small twigs to add caloric fuel. What he said made a lot of sense, he said we have to think about fire systems as stored energy and that the challenge is to get it to burn fast enough a safely enough to be handy, but also work in all conditions. When he was finished heating up a cup of water, he picked out the stone and blew it out, and then put it back into the bottle of fuel to soak up for the next time. The support for his cup was just three stones he picked up off the ground. I’ve never used it myself, because I love the convenience of the pocket rocket style stove (I bought two on Amazon for $20, but then I’m not one for name brands🤷‍♂️). Prior to this, I used a Coleman propane bottle-top stove that I took a bandsaw to to cut it down, but propane sucks in the cold. My wife still has one that we didn’t cut down to use when car camping, as it supports a small skillet, and SAWC (see Nutnfancy channel) aren’t as critical. Speaking of Nutn, he has a great video evaluating stoves and fire making systems.

I love eating in the backcountry and have a big bunch of stoves including the MSR XGK, MSR WindPro, MSR Reactor, MSR Superfly (old school can-top stove) and MSR Pocket-Rocket. They all have their own strengths and are used depending on the mission. The stove that has me the most intrigued is the pill-bottle stove. I love the simplicity and light weight. I am going to find out more about it!

You and Rob Penton are my favorites. Thank you for being so informative. I love your videos and gear reviews! I travel for work all the time and constantly am looking for “hit the ground” solutions if I get a night outdoors. Thank you for sharing the stones. I have used denatured alcohol in the past and it works ok. But the stones add another “non-liquid” option verses the esbit tabs that break down over a few months. The only thing I have found to work long term are the European fuel tabs that NATO uses. But they leave a residue. This will help me when I fly to a place or country that I may not be able to obtain canister fuel for the first night or two!!!

great presentation and patient explanation -excellent for us beginners, thank you

I’m doing a bit more serious cooking (even if it’s just sautéing some onions before adding water and instant soup) and for me simmering and even heat distribution is really important. It’s also important to be able to easily stir the pot.

Great video once again Stephen!!!! After spending a ton of money on a Rubbermaid container full of stove ((many that I only used once) before selling them) I went back to my favorites. 1- alcohol stove / aka coke can stove 2- Esbit / solid fuel stove

During military deployments we've got the flatpack solid fuel stoves included in our MRE packs. They weigh basically nothing and take up almost no space, they also come with their own weatherproof matches. The fuel tabs are just slightly wider than a soda cap, and the square sheet metal stove is about the size of a credit card, you fold its flaps sideways and it makes a disposable upright stove with a fuel slot. The amount of fuel in a single tab is exactly enough to heat up one can of food in the cold, or boil one tiny cup of water in the heat. Pro tip: don't use them to make tea, you'll waste tons of fuel and will have to use other, far less convenient means of heating your food (the only thing better than the flatpack stove is electric kitchen stove). To boil water, make a fire instead. 6:30 at one point during deployment I've made a stove like this out of spent food cans. Seemed like a good idea. The stove wasn't very good. Its biggest issue is that it burns twigs, and the amount of fuel that fits inside is minuscule. Even if you use solid fuel from MREs, you're better off using MRE flatpack stove instead, it's more stable and has less heat leakage.

I watch this with no intention of cooking outdoors. 10/10 would do it again.

This is an excellent rundown and I am seriously impressed by the alcohol stones. What a great idea and I especially like that it worked while setting the pot on top of the stones. I mean how easy is that.

I love my biolite stove. While it is a little heavy i love that I don't participate in the manufactured fuel cycle. I have a pocket rocket too, but i'm interested in those stones now! Great video!

The one I like is the Firebox Nano Gen 2 Titanium. It can be a Wood burner , an Alcohol stove and even a Propane stove , depends on how you set it up and which one you want at that time. If you combine it with the X Box you have compact ( Clean ) storage for it and even a base to set it on when in use. Plus it is very light and pack able. Two models , Stainless or Titanium.

Back when I was in the scouts there was a big argument between the leaders in the association between methylated spirits and the gas. We tested both and frankly they were pretty evenly matched. We ended up going with the gas stoves because we had a guy we could get used canisters from for free. I'm still a bit bummed we didn't get to really use the meths stove though, and this stone system looks really neat

Thanks for the video! I have, and have used virtually all of these types except for the alcohol saturated stones which, frankly I don’t see as significantly distinct from any number of basic alcohol stoves. For simply aesthetic reasons I prefer an alcohol stove. It’s simple, quiet, clean burning and works at any temperature. Gas canister stoves are certainly the go to choice for most general condition 3 season backpackers, for me as well. Efficient, dead simple and lightweight. However, I live and recreate year round in the Rockies, mostly in alpine environs. Here, there is only one really reliable choice and that is a liquid fuel stove (last on your rating list). A little on the heavy side, a tiny bit more attention consuming in use, but the only thing that works with 100% reliability in alpine conditions (>10m ft./

Msr WhisperLite is the choice for me. The multi fuel options make it incredible in the middle of nowhere. I can always find gasoline or diesel either by asking a rancher or stopping at a small gas station. I've done this more than 10 times and had zero issues getting it to work. As for cooking real food on the trail it is so easy as long as the pressure is low in the canister. (simmer control)

I like the following setup: candle tins spiral stuffed w/carbon felt & filled w/ alcohol. Up to three under a SP600 or fill two & swap the burnt out one to extend cook time. Stand & windbreaker is a dryer vent 4-5" section of pipe that has snap lock & is drilled cross axis to slide a poultry lacer through to support one side of the cup, the other side is supported by the handles. The snap lock pops open & rolls inside the cup, whole setup very lite, compact, & low cost.

Addendum: This gentleman has his act together. His knowledge and skill set are very solid. When you are looking for info on anything Outdoors, THIS IS YOUR GUY!!! Love all the links he provides too!

I always used to carry a can of Sterno or two. I have the little stove that they go in. I think I packed with it twice. I usually just found some rocks. Then I found a bigger tomato can. I poked holes around the outside along the bottom and the top. The Sterno can sat in the bottom. It made it more wind proof and held the heat in better for faster cooking.

I love using esbit tabs! I have the UL foldering titanium stove base that balances my pot well. You can also use two tabs if you want to do a fast boil if you're cooking for two. They actually come in two different sizes. These are a German product and I think I'll be able to get them in Switzerland when I'm there to trek and bivouac. The major problem I have with them is the smell. They burn clean but the smell they emit before you light them is terrible and I have to keep them in double ziplock bags and avoid directly touching them!

This reminds me of heating C-rations back in the day: We'd empty a can, punch holes around the bottom and top, then burn heat tabs inside, setting (carefully!) the food being heated on top. I would then use that 'stove' for the time I was in the field. While obviously unsteady, it got the job done. 😎

I got tired of having to put the pressurised gas canister in my sleeping bag with me at night 40 years ago…When the outside temperature dropped very low they just won’t work. Have to warm them up first. Back then I went with sterno cans backpacking. Always worked fine and super light.

I got most of them. I still go for the cannister stove. The Soto windmaster is my favorite out of the 5 I have. But I do love a alcohol stove if I'm not cooking, just boiling.

I've been intrigued by the biolite stoves, especially since you can produce electricity while you use them. Very clever invention

Lately, when motorcycle camping, I have been using a genuine Bushbuddy stove and a MSR Windburner. Though I haven't used the Windburner for anything more than a coffee cup. The Bushbuddy is so convenient.

thank you for your reviews. I still use my MSR Whisperlite international with trillium accessory on legs and disk plate atop burner to aid in simmering. Use a dab of fuel paste in primer cup for start-up. Has a self cleaning pin in the jet. Less relying on weather conditions, location or fuel availability to use. I find a wider pot more practical than narrow and tall one.

You gotta try the Soto Stormbreaker, I absolutely love it. You can use white gasoline or gas from canisters. And if you want to use white gasoline, you don't have this open flame for preheating the stove, as it just doesn't need it! And it's kinda quiet compared to other stoves.

You can use prous concrete bricks too, I've done that for many years, but I soak them in my own blend of burning liquids, and they will burn clean for up to 40min, and then leave a nice heat when cooling down.. I've used it in my tent to keep myself warm, and to cook with.

Many, many years ago, I bought a GAZ Globetrotter stove that I absolutely loved. (Anyone else remember those?) It was a well-thought out bit of equipment. But then you couldn't find the little blue gas canisters anymore for love or money. And even though the stove was useless after we emptied the last canister in 2001, I hung onto it for the memories. And I'm glad I did. Apparently, Coleman bought GAZ and killed the stove and canister design. But 2 days ago I found an article about how to retro-fit a Globetrotter to take modern fuel canisters. It was insanely easy and fast to do, took 5 ounces off the weight of the stove, and best of all? It involved cannibalizing a Coleman Peak 1 stove we had hanging around.

Was talking with my aunt last night about Banff-ing around in Canada for the winter. Naturally, SkyNet detected this and began suggesting to me outdoor lifestyle videos. I've probably watched five or six back-to-back and I'm very impressed with your quality and presentation! I really like your videos!

I think making those stone puck forms about the same size as a hockey puck & storing them in a like sized container would make up for the balance issues.