This post may contain affiliate links.

QiWiz Titanium Ultralight Dual Fuel Stove System (Alcohol and ESBIT)

Wide Carbon Felt Lined Stove 'Puck' and Narrow Puck (shown burning alcohol)
Wide Carbon Felt Lined Stove ‘Puck’ and Narrow Puck (shown burning alcohol)

When I want to go backpack really light, I pack the QiWiz Titanium Ultralight Stove System (Ti Kit) which includes a 700 ml titanium pot, pot stand, a titanium foil wind screen, and a dual fuel stove which can burn ESBIT or alcohol. QiWiz also sells these components separately, so you can mix and match if you already have a stove set up that requires some improving.

Here’s how the weight of my QiWiz Ti stove system breaks down:

  • Dual fuel carbon felt stove that can burn alcohol or ESBIT (18 g)
  • Titanium foil wind screen (15 g)
  • Stainless steel wire mesh pot stand (10 g)
  • Titanium cook pot w/ lid (109 g)

QiWiz sells two stove sizes, a small one for narrow pots and a larger one for wider, grease style cook pots. Both stoves are pucks, lined with carbon felt, which makes an excellent alcohol stove wick. Both pucks come with screw-on lids which can be used to snuff the alcohol flame or flipped over and used as a base to burn an ESBIT cube.

Dovetailed Titanium Foil Wind Screen
Dovetailed Titanium Foil Wind Screen

I really like the Titanium stove screen because the ends are dovetailed to lock securely together. QiWiz has also punched holes on one side of the screen for better air flow, but not the other side for use in windier conditions. The screen is small enough that it and all of the other components fit completely in the cook pot, which is great for carrying in a small backpack. It also means that the wind screen will last longer because I don’t have to fold it up to store it separately.

The complete kit fits inside the titanium pot for easy storage
The complete kit fits inside the titanium pot for easy storage

While most UL hikers carry alcohol for fuel, I prefer cooking with ESBIT on the shorter 1 or 2 night trips I take because it’s much easier to pack. Each 0.5 ounce cube will boil 2 cups of water and I only need to bring a few to cook two dinners and extra water for tea. Still, it’s nice to have one stove that can be used to burn both ESBIT and alcohol, so I can mooch alcohol fuel from friends who do carry it. :-)

ESBIT Stove and Stainless Steel Pot Stand
Puck Lid for burning ESBIT cubes and Stainless Steel Pot Stand

QiWiz sells two pot stands, the stainless steel mesh one shown above, and a collapsible tripod that unfolds into a three legged wire and brass triangle. I destroyed the tripod after a few uses by dropping a rock on it (it was never the same afterwards), but the wire mesh stand is still going strong.

Titanium cook pot making hot cocoa
Titanium cook pot making hot cocoa

The Titanium Pot included in the kit has built-in colander holes, folding handles, and a pot lid which I consider must-have features on backpacking pots. I also use this pot with the QiWiz FireFly wood stove and canister stoves I own and think it’s a great buy by itself.

The complete titanium pot, titanium windscreen, stove, and pot stand kit described here costs $49.95 from QiWiz. If you’ve ever shopped for ultralight titanium cook pots, that’s not a bad price for the pot alone. I’ve been using this cook system most of this spring think it’s the ticket for shorter trips when you want to keep things really simple and light.

Disclosure: QiWiz sent Philip Werner (SectionHiker.com) free samples of the titanium windscreen, stove stand, and dual fuel stove reviewed here, but Philip wasn’t under any obligation to review them.

15 comments

  1. As I read the review I kept thinking about how I might consider building my own later, until I saw the price. That’s actually a nice looking kit for the money.

  2. Philip, have you tested the alchohol efficiency? I’m curious how it relates to my DIY PBR can stove and a cat can stove

    • Good question. I don’t do alcohol timing tests. What happens on your stove at home has little relation to what happens outdoors in the wind. It gets the job done, that’s all I would claim. I mostly use ESBIT anyway.

  3. I also have the stove set-up w/o that pot. I got the large windscreen. Use it with an
    Evernew .9 l pot and really like it as well. Have used mostly esbits even on 4-5 days
    out. Used alcohol a couple of times, but doesn’t seem any faster or slower than other alcohol
    stoves I have used but that was on trail conditions. Some wind/breezes and high 40’s to low 50’s.
    It really is a nice set up.

  4. Interesting, have you tried the new Military issue Gel Packs instead of the Esbit? I think they are alcohol based not sure, but I bought 100 at 20 cents each in a Surplus store….I was successful in using a flat rock surrounded by 3 – 4 rocks on top of the flat rock about an inch high, and then squirting the gel in the center lighting it off an resting my Ti pot over it. Worked rather well.. I also did this with an esbit tablet and both worked very well…Just wondering.

  5. Last year I started carrying a Firebox nano twig stove and a tiny cup for an alcohol stove. I use the twig stove as a pot stand. I really don’t need a wind screen with this set up but I do wrap a piece of aluminum foil around it if it is really windy. Boil time is about the same as a Fancy Feast stove (6 to 8) minutes. I like to prepare for Murphy’s law so I also keep two Esbit tabs in my bear can, just in case. I carry the two stoves inside my Snow Peak Ti-mini solo combo for a total weight of 14.3 oz. Not including the alcohol. That is an acceptable weight for me.

    • The QiWiz pot is bigger in a useful way and it’s multi-fuel. There will be little difference in burn efficiency. It really comes down to whether youlike mix and match systems or kits from one vendor. I prefer mix and match, but not always. :-)

  6. When using alcohol in burner I have found that once you are boiling, by dropping lid onto burner to obstruct opening you can simmer food if required. smaller opening means less flame thus less overall heat. Just adjust opening size as required.

  7. You said: “While most UL hikers carry alcohol for fuel, I prefer cooking with ESBIT on the shorter 1 or 2 night trips I take because it’s much easier to pack.”

    What do you like to use for longer trips?

    • I only go through an ounce of esbit a day, so I’d just carry more. Or I might carry a wood stove and use esbit whenever I can’t light a fire. When I hike in Scotland, where it’s harder to obtain and transport Esbit, I just use a gas canister.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Solve *