Stoves and Cookware

Here is a problem that has been vexing me for a long time – safe isobutane canister disposal and recycling. The recommended way to dispose of a used canister is to vent all of the remaining gas in it and punch a whole through the sidewall using a screwdriver. After …

The Olicamp Ion Micro Titanium Canister Stove is tiny and cute, but is quite limited in the value it provides. Under-powered, over-priced, with a very small pot stand, and poor wind resistance, you’d be better off getting a slightly heavier, more powerful, and safer-to-use canister stove. Burner The Olicamp Ion …

I started car camping with my wife this year and the spartan cook system I use for solo backpacking quickly proved to be insufficient for cooking more elaborate meals. That point has been hammered home by my wife, particularly since she is a foodie, with a wall of cookbooks at …

The BioLite CampStove received a huge amount of media attention this summer for being the first camping stove that can burn wood for cooking and recharging USB-enabled electronic devices. That’s a bunch of baloney, in my opinion. There are far better ways to boil water in the backcountry and recharge electronic …

The Olicamp XTS Anodized Aluminum pot has built-in heat exchange fins that reduce the amount of fuel required to boil a pot of water by about 40%. The pot, which has a 1 liter capacity, is large enough that you can fit a 250 gram gas canister inside it including …

? The WindMaster OD-1RX is more windproof and uses less fuel to boil the same amount of water than other canister stoves. This includes the Soto OD-1R Microregulator stove that I’ve been using the past two years and wrote a long term review about recently. The chief difference between these …

Don’t throw away the plastic cap that comes with an isobutane canister and don’t lose it. It’s the only thing that will keep the Lindal valve from rusting. When the valve rusts, it can start to leak gas. I had this happen to me last year after a backpacking trip. …

The Toaks Titanium Wood Stove is a can-style wood gas stove that weighs 7.9 ounces and can be used to burn wood on camping and backpacking trips. It’s an inverted double-wall gasifier stove that burns wood and smoke more efficiently than a single walled can with holes punched in it, because it …

I’ve been using a canister stove as my primary cook system for the past 3-4 years. I like the fast boil times, and the fact that you can light them and turn them off in seconds. While there have been endless debates about whether canister stoves and fuel canisters are …

The Caldera Cone is a very cleverly designed alcohol stove system. The base configuration includes an alcohol stove, a fuel bottle, a measuring cup, a combination pot holder/windscreen (The Cone), and two plastic tumblers that can be used as cups or bowls and screw together to store the system in …

Every year, I like to recognize the piece of new gear that has had the greatest transformational influence on my enjoyment of hiking and backpacking. This year’s winner is the Solo Wood Stove (click for my review from earlier this year), an efficient wood stove that lets me cook my meals on …

Note: This is a cautionary tale. Propane is a highly flammable and potentially explosive gas. Backpacking stoves are not designed to operate on 100% propane mixes. Use at your own risk. Risk includes loss of property, serious injury, and death.  I have been pondering the use of propane for winter …

I’d always heard that you can carry Esbit Fuel Tablets on an airplane in checked baggage. It’s one of the main arguments people use to recomend them for international travel. While that may have been true before the 9/11 and the creation of the TSA, it’s not true anymore. TSA …

Ultralight Titanium Camping Pots I use an Evernew Titanium Pot (1.3 L) for melting snow for winter hiking and camping. It only weighs 4.8 oz, which is pretty respectable for a winter cook pot. It’s a little larger than the 900 ml Evernew Titanium Pasta Pot (Medium) that I normally …