Esbit vs. Esbit: Battle of the Esbit Stoves 

My experience is that #1 A windscreen is very important, more than a lid & thats #2 but what’s just as important as #1(a) is #1(b) a container that’s round to put the cubes into maybe a modified top rim of crowning 👑effect to chimney the flame more direct to the bottom of the pot & with the right distance 7/8”-1” (experiment) NO or very little soot to clean up! Thanks for your video, I have both stoves & the fold up I first used & went with spirit burners when out of fuel tabs. The other one was to be gifted to someone but they didn’t care for it so it’s up for sale

Great video. I have the lightweight version, but I was this many years old when I learned the aluminum foil liner trick. Will definitely start using that, since scrubbing the gunk out with an old toothbrush is a pain. I’ve also used some small alcohol canister stoves sold for chaffing dishes with mine. They’re not reusable, but handy since they have enough fuel to get you through a couple of days on the trail.

Thanks Dan I enjoy comparison videos like this. Esbit also has a rectangular pot and burner that is extremely efficient because of the larger surface area on the bottom. I believe it is called, "Esbit 1100 ml Cookset" I find it easy to pack and quick to boil.

I keep the folding one in a compass pouch on the side of my Hidden Woodsmen haversack. A great bit of kit! Thanks for sharing my friend 🤠

I have both of these stoves. You really can’t go wrong with either.

I have the Esbet pocket stove like yours. The first 1 that i had was smaller and the esbet tablets were a lot smaller than the current tablets. I got my first 1 in Germany in 1979 or 1980 I was in the army then. easy to heat Cration cans and held the canteen cup level and not tippy.

The small esbit pocket stove weighs just over 3 ounces. My DIY perforated titanium stove used for esbit or dragon heat tabs or wood weighs a meager 0.55 ounces and fits in the inside perimeter of my titanium mug - minimum weight and perfect fit. It contracts for sitting under the mug.

Esbit stoves do work, but for me they are backup to my canister stove or my Firebox Titanium G2 stick stove. Yes it is a good idea to use aluminum foil to shield the bottom from the fuel tablet. For better results use the larger 27gram fuel tablets vs the 14gram fuel tablets. Just remember that the fumes are poisonous (well duh). Fun fact: We lit pieces of C4 plastic. explosives with a lighter to boil water back in the day; same principle as with Esbit chemical fuel tablets...

Hey Dan, pro tip. Use a half of a fireplug to light the cubes. Then you can use a ferro rod.

I picked up some Esbit fuel a couple years ago & still haven’t played with them. Always wondered about the mess. My preferred small stove is a FireBox 🔥 Nano & an alcohol burner, normally a Trangia but not always. I really figured the Esbit pot / stand would have won that test.

😮😊good battle. Always smart to use 2 tabs. Many people on YT start with only 1 tab😮 you can also do some mods on the small Esbit to make it better. Thanks

Does the stainless steel boil faster than the anodized aluminum? May have something to do with the start time for the bubbles.

How long does it take to boil with one tab?

the way you had the folding stove set you were lucky the Pathfinder cup didn't slide off