"No war esbit will Light by a spark" - in the Austrian military we have been trained to scratch a little bit of dust from the esbit cube. That dust lights easily with just a spark.
Got this an year ago or so, became my go to stove for day hikes. I took it dozens of time. I don't bother expensive fancy purpose made fuels, just use hand sanitizer gel. It even comes in small portable bottles. I love this stove. For coffe brewing, hot chocolate for a couple of people. Warming up food, or even cook past, rice or lentils.
You can actually start an Esbit or any other Hexamine tablet with a spark, tho. SImply grind the top of it with your knife to produce some dust and keep the small pile of dust on top of it. It does take a spark flawlessly and burn for 10 to 15 minutes. And depending of the brand you buy these Hexamine tablets can cost like 5 cents each.
I prefer these to Esbit. In the army we used Esbit but never got the smell of our hands. I was tipped about this one by a bushcrafter i went to school with. He knew how i hated the hexamine smell because we both served at the same base. They are great in case of emergency you can even clean your hands with them.
I picked this stove up as my backup stove. Nice, compact and a bit wind resistant. I did solder the corners of the tray to make it leakproof. This allows me to use straight liquid alcohol as another option to the fuel blocks and gel.
@@cindynichols27 easily 1.25oz. or so... burn time of 15min+, using HEET. Keep in mind, this is an open tray and easy to spill if bumped so be careful.
Hi guys. Just returned from a three weeks off grid hike. I was not allowed to bring any gas canisters on the seaplane that dropped me of in the wilderness here in Norway. So I tested and modified the bcb stove for six months, and also tested both the cubes and the gel. I ended up using it on the hike and it work really good under all conditions. Bcb sent me two stoves for this hike so I used both the wind shields when needed. They can also be used as legs to raise it of the ground. The walls inside that makes up the fuel chamber can be bent down to create a flat surface to hold like aluminum cup approximately the same size as an Trangia spirit burner. That helped me get more burntime when needed. All and a great experience.
For me the most significant thing is the gel fuel, a great improvement. I was in the British Army over 30 years ago and hated the little solid fuel stoves, mostly because of the taste of hexamine in my food and coffee, but also because the performance was not great outdoors in winter conditions. The only thing good about them was that they were compact. However, with an alternative fuel, and the windbreak, I would consider having one of these stoves in an emergency kit.
I got one a couple of weeks ago. I use it with Sinol-brand fire gel which is made here in Finland and very cheap, about 8 euros for a 1 liter bottle. The Sinol gel is more liquid than most gels I see on videos, it's about the consistency of heavy motor oil and can be easily poured out of the bottle. Because of the more "runny" nature of the fuel my stove leaked a little, just a few drops, on the first use but after that the residue from the gel seems to have sealed the tray as it stopped leaking. Works well for boiling some water for freeze-dried camping meals or coffee/tea.
These are absolutely fantastic. I use them all the time. As the cube is pure alcohol, you can rub one in your hands as sanitiser. You can also use one to clean a wound. They are totally odourless and I have used one inside a closed tent during foul weather. You have to be careful with the combustion gases of course but, that is the same withany stove. The cubes aline are worth carrying in a fire kit. Even if they are dripping wet, they will burst in to flames with just a ferro rod. A small piece of foil in the middle tray and it will hold bio ethanol or methylated spirits.
I really like this stove and how you can store 3 packs of dragon fuel in it however the dragon fuel doesn't seem to work as hot as they claim, at least for me it didn't. I couldn't get my stainless steel canteen cup to come to a full boil (2 cups of water) using a single cube. I was able to w/titanium and aluminum cups though. Also...the wind greatly affects boil times and don't count on a single cube bringing your 2 cups of water to a boil in windy conditions. The dragon fuel also leaves soot and a burnt mess in the stove (some may not care about this). Stove is great, fuel is only so-so in my opinion. Yellow heet works faster and leaves no soot. All these systems have pros and cons of course. Thanks for the great content! Love the channel.
x6 blocks costs £3.99 UK pounds ($5) with each block giving up about 8 to 10 minutes useful burn time. These are primarily a water boiling stove so water can be added to dehydrated food packs or making hot drinks, you're not going to cook a meal on one. I have, in a past life, used the old hexamine stove which for tent cooking will likely kill you, the fire dragon wont. Its a great little cooker provided you understand its limitations and use it safely.
I picked one of these up about a year and a half ago if I remember correctly. It's original purpose was for a "Get home" bag but shortly after I got it I started working at home due to the pandemic. Wish prospects of going back to the office, at least semi-regularly, i'll be revisiting my get home bag. And I'll be able to see how well the fuel cubes survived in static storage. In regards of concern about compromising the little packages you could always break out the vacuum sealer and seal them up in an extra layer.
Another great video! For those who might want to try these gel blocks in other stoves you do need something to contain the gel. One option is the trangia gel burning tray. Another option is to search for the Firedragon mini cooker. This is essentially a tray that fits around the tablet with a couple of fold out ears at the top for different sized pots. The ears can be snipped off & the tray used in lots of other stoves.
Hi from the UK , been using these for a few years great little stove , you can also sanitize your hands with the BCB blocks , only thing i wish they had done in the design was to make the central block holder liquid tight , so you could pour bio ethanol or meths in as a fuel ( it leaks ) Best regards
I’ve tried both the BCB Fire Dragon tablets and gel. The Fire Dragon has advantages over the Esbit but the gel is nicer than the solid fuel as you point out. Trangia sells a gel fuel cup that fits in the Nano using the same pins as the Trangia alcohol burner which I think is nice.
Nice point on the windscreen. The Esbit stove folds too at 45 degrees but has nothing to stop it from closing if the pot is too heavy as you say. Love the spark as many carry firesteels. I found it sometimes hard to start a hex tab with a match.
The Esbit Pocket Stove Medium has a windscreen and is similar in size to the BCB Fire Dragon stove. The Esbit Pocket Stove Medium is the next size up from the Esbit Pocket Stove Ultralight.
@@Gadgeteer22 Most places only sell the civy version of the Esbit, which has no wind screen. Some people make their windscreens from pop/soda cans. Your comment also does not get to the point that the tablets are still weak AF often needing two to get anything close to a boil.
Great little stove that I've been using for about a year now. In addition to the cubes and gel, I modified my stove by sealing the corners of the fuel tray with high heat JB Weld and adding a coil of stove gasket material for a woodstove. Now I can place the coil of gasket material in the fuel tray and fill with HEET (yellow bottle) and use the stove with liquid fuel. The heating and burn times are not too far off from the cubes if I recall correctly. This easy mod at least doubles the versatility in my opinion as HEET is usually fairly easy to find at just about any fuel station whereas the cubes and gel must be ordered ahead of time and kept in stock.
You didn’t mention that you can wash your hands with it before you cook or that it doesn’t have solid fuel fumes so it is safe indoors. A year ago I for Christmas I gave my grown daughter a 3 day get home bag for her car and a 7 day at home kit in 2 buckets. During the big freeze we had here in Austin Texas these were a lifesaver while she was iced in at home. The buckets had a single burner Coleman propane stove but by far her favorite was this stove with 2 boxes of fuel blocks. She put a large cookie sheet on the coffee table and used both stoves during a week without heat or water. The 2 packs of hand and foot warmers were a big hit also.
Thank you👍. I’ve wondered why nobody has made fuel tablets that don’t wreak of fish smell. That’s why I refuse to buy Esbit. Too … I like the windscreen.
These are a great solid fuel stove for sure. However, your results would be different out in the field on the ground as your platform. The difference between the BSB and esbit stoves, is that the esbit stove has dimpled feet raising the stove a little off the ground, while the BSB is flat loosing a certain amount of heat to the earth. Even though I agree with you generally about the product, you may consider redoing the experiment in the field. Cheers
Now that's an interesting point. Would the conductive loss be that great? Now that you mention it I'd love to see a back to back comparison. Both stoves on a table vs both on the ground.
Always enjoy your videos. I have looked at this stove for a while now. Couldn’t get one when it was new to me, so I got some metal flashing and fashioned a wind screen for each of my Esbit stoves. Looks like I need to get some of those Fire Dragon fuel tabs though. In the Corps, we would put a trioxane tab on the small C-Ration can of peanut butter, and the flame would burn for an hour or more.
Hi I use sometimes use this stove for bikepacking as its really simple , light and guaranteed to work . I rap my stove with some tinfoil which later mostly use for an added wind shield. No extra weight and improves boil time
The Firedragon tablets actually weigh 30g rather than the stated 27g. The flame can be "regulated " by using the windscreen to slice the tablet easily. Feeding half a tablet at a time keeps the flame from escaping out, prolonged burn time and allows for more volume of water to be boiled. The windscreen also makes a great scraper for cleaning out residue. 205g for stove a 3 tablets.
@@PaleoHikerMD OK 👍 I've got to the bottom of this....tablets 3x = 90g 2x=60g 1× =30g If I add on an empty case and foil lid, weight varies 2 or 3g above at each of the above. So the wrapper is just under 3g per tablet. Hence we are both correct ! The carry weight is 30g a tablet, so BCB stove full is 205g. SO, 90g of fuel gives about 3 boils of 300ml water, whereas an average canister stove would burn 3x 9g=18g of fuel. So, once you go over carring about 5 tablets, a canister stove and 100g canister, part used, is in the game. The above in a light breeze. Have I given you an idea for a new video ? Thank you for your excellent videos. 🙏
Boil enough water to cover the stove and leave it to soak in the hot water. The residue will turn back into a gel and you can easily wipe it out. 👍 🧐🇬🇧
Seems like a great alternative to esbit. The one thing I like about esbit when I get my water hot or to a boil I can blow out the esbit and reuse later.
I have this stove, but have replaced it with the Expedition Research Titanium, which does better in the wind and seems to boil water faster. I use the Dragon Fire fuel both tabs or gel when its particularly windy out and the regular esbit tabs when its not, the Dragon Fire fuel is a bit more expensive than the normal solid fuel tabs. As a bonus that Dragon Fire gel is a great fire starter, when you are in a hurry. Great video, I do agree solid fuel is underrated, but its all I use on my day hikes. Cheers.
@PaleoHikerMD are you aware of the SOL Fire Lite Fuel Cubes. They are hard size compared to the Dragon Fire cubes at 14 grams each and it come 12 to a package. Kind of life like Coghlans tablets versus Esbit tablets. GOD Bless you and your family
Make up a foil box to fit that center and you can burn liquid alcohol. Also, cut some cardboard strips long enough to fit that center box and stack enough to fill it side to side. Melt it full of wax and add a couple of short ignition wicks. That's a buddy burner. I've been burning ethyl alcohol hand sanitizer for a couple of years now.
I have this stove too but I still have no fuel. But according to even your review earlier the esbit and expedition research tablets at half the size cubes burn the same amount of time. So ya know if I'm out camping I don't care if they smell bad because I figure it might help keep the critters away they sure won't like it. Thanks for all your time
Got the german one from WWII. It costs about 1,50 dollars over here and is perfect as a solo for a day trip or a backup for longer trips. That's really all you need since I prefer to have a decent stove for primary source of cooking. This german one works with both tablets and gel and sticks.
Hello....I watch all ur vids. I like ur style. I am the kind of person who cooks over an open fire. I think alittle bit of the gel would be an excellent way to help get wet wood to burn. My question is how long can it be stored.?
I bought this esbit like cooker and really had great hopes for it..I even soldered the edges of the fuel tray..so that I could put in carbon felt & burn Alcohol as well. I still like the Esbit stove better though I use the Coghlan tabs instead of Esbit. .mainly because I'm a cheep Bastard but practically because useing 3 tabs of Coghlan fuel I can space out the tabs in my esbit cookers when using my Esbit pot & still come out less expensive as well as dispensing the heat more evenly with less Hotspot.
I use this stove and fuel as a back up/addition for my trangia cooking set-up and its good, the kit also contains a smaller firedragon stove and the trangia gel burner
Looks like it might be adaptable to Sterno, or chafing dish type fuel sources. Have found that using Sterno, chafing dish, or Trangia style burners, as well as " Fancy Feast " cat food tin contrivances in Esbit type stoves works well .
The wind screen is innovative. If I were shopping for a solid fuel stove it would be at the top of my list but I'm not going out and buying one just because.
Several years ago I took mine and modified it for Alcohol. 1.st , sealed the corners with some J.B.Weld , to make sure there were no leaks. 2nd. Cut some ( 1/4 thick ) Carbon Felt to fit the length of the tray. The height was just a fraction higher then the pan. Took 7 strips to complete the job. Makes a nice alcohol stove for a canteen cup since it heats most of the bottom.
I ordered one based on your video. I already use an Esbit stove but the little wind deflector appealed to me. Nicely made. One Thing I didn’t count on…the wind deflector rattles when I hike. 😳 Have to stow them separately! 😂
Bought one last year and really like it. Used it a lot last winter to heat my lunch. I keep it inside a Trangia mess tin with all the other cooking needs. Don't use the Fire Dragon cube in an Esbit pot stove. The cubes liquify and runs out while on fire. Oops!!
The Firedragon tablets work work on the mini esbit titanium stove, provided you cut into quarters and feed a quarter at a time. 300ml water boils on 3/4 tablet in 10min outside, light breeze.
I used my esbit for years and then prices started going up higher and higher on these tabs the last few years. Also a 10+ min wait on a 2 cup boil was a drag.... I have it still in my bugout bag but typical backpacking trips I use only the fuel canisters now with a rocket.
Being in the UK these have been around for quite a while (current Army issue). I haven't used one, however, I was imoressed when I saw a demo showing that the Gel burn even on water! Great for using in on wet outdoor trips.
Try cutting the gell block in half I have found it burns almost as long and seal the other half in and air tight container for use later or to extend the burn time 👍🏴
The burn time on the tablets is long enough to heat our "MRE's", to be honest I tend to use a gas stove (jetboil type) but always have on of these in my webbing for a mid exercise cuppa.
Great video! Just wondering if you have any experience with using Zip Natural Firestarter Instant Light Cubes in this type of stove? Price seems good and many reviews state burn time is 30 mins. Wondering if it burns clean and if there's any smell? Thanks!
With the gel, it would seem like you could use less than the cube. You have 5 additional minutes of burn time. knocking it down to 20 gram equivalent may waste less and still get the desired result? I know it burns cooler at the end, but just a thought.
Ernie, what stove would you put in your wife or daughters emergency kit if they were to use it in an emergency under stress and with very little training or practice with it. Also considering weight to be carried in a bag and possibly multifuel ability with easily available fuel sources eg denatured alcohol, alcohol gel, solid fuel tabs, wood, tea light candles (if they even work for simple boiling?) or butane canisters (or not some of the above if you think their too risky?)
Hi Ernie.Great review. I have one of these here in the UK and its simple and easy and with the FireDragon fuel easy to light. BCB also do a micro stove (which I have also used). www.bcbin.com/Catalogue/Products/Outdoor-Adventure/Survival-Kits-Essentials/Military-Kits/FIREDRAGON-MINI-COOKER-CN360 Its great for a day hike as you can fit the cooker and fuel inside your cup. However I don't think the full burns as well inside the micro stove as it does in the one you reviewed (perhaps airflow / pot - flame gap differences etc). Keep up the great work
I'd be interested in seeing the minimum amount of the fuel needed to bring the water to a boil and if it was possible to save any unused portion of a cube for the next meal. Also a cost- comparison per boil using Deagon Fuel vs. hexamine tablets. Also, any way to tame the flame on this stove for baking ... Thanks for what you do.
You can blow the fuel block out. I've used this a few times now (I've a Vid on my channel). From watching other channels it depends on the efficiency of the cup used and I've found a windshield improves efficiency too.
@@andyventures6574 Thx. Can the fuel block be cut and divided? Does the retained piece evaporate away? If so, could that be prevented for a sufficient amount of time by keeping it in a small enclosed container for next use?
Looks really great. After watching a Yt video, I made a wind block out of an aluminum pie tin for my Esbit folding stove. Does this Dragon stuff leave a nasty residue on the burn plate and on the pot?
I use firegragon fuel.. It just works every time. If it’s good for Tommies - it’s good enough. Hexamine is a dangerous product so for me it’s a no brainer which one to use.
I’ve been using the cubes, but do not have one of their stoves. It burns clean and doesn’t stink. I’d be curious to see how the gel (which I don’t have) works against a fire starting gel.
not sure where you are living. but i have messed with soda can alcohol stoves. good in summer but i live in minn. a place that is known for -40f temps. any temp under plus 40 & the alcohol stove needs a priming pan to heat the fuel. would like to see a repeat of this fuel type in a cold temp enviorment test. in my gear i have the 1970's version known as 'the tommy cooker" having used up all my blue hexaimine tabs. i keep it stocked with the esbit tabs. the only difference i see between what i have & this new one is the wind screen. a piece of tin foil / or throw away pie plate will make one. so i don't see the need to buy a new stove. now i have picked up some envelopes & a can of what is called jellied fuel for campfire starting. i will need to exaimine the ingriedent list to see if it is gas or alcohol based. as too whether this jellied fuel should be used in this type of stove.
😂 I just go to Dollarama and get $1.25 Fire starter squares.One square burns exactly 7 minutes and after it's burned it becomes like a lump of hot coal and you can warm your hands on it,but it doesn't burn clean,make sure you have good ventilation or go outside and if you cut them into quarters you can make 48 fires 🔥.When you need to survive you don't need much money,just your brain...
I don’t think you mentioned it, but the Fire Dragon cubes can also be used as a waterless soap to wash your hands (at the cost of a little burn time). I’m using the BCB Crusader set, and picked up some Fire Dragon cubes to test with it. The Crusader has room to store three cubes in the burner as well. My kit also came with a bag that can store several more cubes. I think the cubes have a strong fuel odor when they burn, but I have a sensitive nose. Also, the flames can reach very high, and can actually touch the plastic lid of the Crusader cup. Just yesterday, I tested the stove with a 1982 vintage Hexi cube from the surplus store. It’s say the Fire Dragon won in terms of power, but the hexi cube was definitely a more discreet, manageable flame. I’ll be ordering some Esbit 14g cubes to do a comparison in the near future.
Can you able to try if "Weber stainless steel smoker box" be use for alcohol stove as a wind blocker and possiblely can hold 2 alcohol stove and become like a 2 burner stove type thing? It seem possible but bulky.
There is a downside to the BCB stove vs Esbit (the stove, not the fuel) - the bottom rests flat on the ground and when it’s cold out it sucks the heat away and doesn’t cook as well. Also, the Expedition Research solid fuel is very well packaged compared to esbit and doesn’t leak smell.
It is a heavy stove (compared to original Esbit stove) and the costs of the system in total are very high compared to anything else. If they would have made the tablet holder tight one could use it without any extras as simple alcohol stove but that's not possible without adding anything to it (what is extra stuff and extra weight). If you fold it in with that extra piece the burning area is quite small and bigger pots stand wobbly. The advantage of being less poisonous isn't such big, never heard somebody passing away from hexamine fume in the field, means used with proper ventilation esbit isn't more dangerous than alcohol. Besides that ... ok, why not. One can use it with Esbit/Hexamine tablets, that's surely the best aspect of it ;-) As an alcohol or gel stove I still prefer the good old Swiss M71 - found so far nothing better.
One thing i noticed was the cup the fuel sits in. Does the fuel spread out in the cup (ooze)? How would this fuel tablet do on say the mostly flat solid fuel plate for a firebox stove?
Esbit's Safety Data Sheet states combustion can create formaldehyde, ammonia, nitrogen oxide, hydrogen cyanide and ingestion may cause nausea, vomiting, gastrointestinal disturbances, and kidney damage. Dragon tabs can be used as hand sanitizer.
