Esbit stove fits inside GSI cup inside Snow Peak 700 pot, plus pot holder and lighter. I carry my tea, coffee and honey in there also on day trips. |
Up to 4 Esbit tabs can be stored inside the folded stove, bagged for smell. |
Folded wind shields fit on stove bottom |
Folded tabs hold shields in place. Note shield below the stove. Air flow is open at bottom around tabs. |
With the windscreen, the tabs burned well, boiling my water before the half-tabs burned out. The one I timed on a windy day was a half tab at a rolling boil at 7 minutes, 10 seconds. A full tab usually lasts about 16 minutes with the shields, but your mileage may vary.
Windshields are ultralight weight and allow significant airflow through the stove bottom. |
I have been using one half an Esbit tab per one cup of boiling water and always had a little leftover tab. I found the leftover tabs to not burn as well when piled together and after reading the Esbit MSDS, I decided not even to touch it, when possible. I let it burn the remainder. The MSDS tells me that Esbit is a very toxic chemical called Methenamine, not to be messed with other than cut with a knife for outdoors cooking in the open air. Material Safety Data Sheets are required of businesses who deal with chemical compounds and are the go-to documents for environmental and work-related safety issues. They can be trusted.
Typically on a day hike I brewed a cup of tea bag coffee or made a hot herbal Zinger tea to wash down my trail munchies while enjoying the view at the halfway point. I'll be using this stove for boiling water for bag cooking my dinners and drinks, usually 2 cups of water, with one full tab. Esbit makes the perfect ultralight weight fuel for my use.
I did find the same stove made in Stainless Steel on Amazon in case you are interested. I do plan to keep my stove for lightweight day hikes and emergencies.
Brian Green on his blog made an excellent titanium MYOG Esbit stove here. Cutting plans are at the end of the full instructions.
REI (and many others) sell a 0.4 ounce folding Esbit stove, if you would prefer to purchase one. It is well-rated, but I'm sticking with what I already have until I buy the classic ti-tri Caldera Cone system sometime next year. I want the ti Caldera stove for the ability of burning wood as a fuel in an emergency.