Esbit Solid Fuel Stove and Cookset

To be honest, I had never heard of Esbit...at least until some friends of mine who served in European militaries turned me onto Esbit's solid fuel cubes. I've since come to learn that Esbit is a European favorite for their outdoor cooksets and solid fuel cubes, which can be used for light cooking and fire starting. The main component of Esbit fuel is hexamine, which has long served in European militaries to heat field rations. The American military has water-activated MRE heaters. The British, Germans, and pretty much every other European military uses/has used hexamine. Hexamine has a long shelf life, can't malfunction, and is obviously compact. Esbit fuel cubes are approximately 1" white squares that are about 0.5" thick, and are more or less smokeless when  they burn. They are individually packaged.

 

I purchased the Esbit Solid Fuel Stove and Cookset off Amazon.com for a whopping $21.47. The unit is manufactured in Germany and appears to be quality kit. The whole unit nests inside the cup/pot and comes inside a mesh storage pouch.

The pot is made out of lightweight, hard anodized aluminum and weighs only 7 ounces. The hardware on the pot appears to be stainless steel and is attached by rivets. The unit consists of a pot, lid, wind deflector/pot stand, and mesh storage pouch.

The foldable handles are rubber coated and fold firmly against the pot. Also seen here is a small spout formed into the rim of the pot to facilitate pouring, and the ounce/milliliter measurement markings.

 

 

The wind deflector and pot stand can be seen here nested inside the pot. As you can see, it is simply a platform to hold the pot over an Esbit fuel cube. Theoretically you could make a small wood burning fire in the stand, but I haven't tried it. 

 

 

Fuel cube on the tray.

Fully assembled cookset.

 

As a practical exercise, I will see how long it takes for the Esbit Solid Fuel Stove and Cookset to boil 2 cups of water. The reason I decided to use 2 cups as a reference point is because that is the amount of water required to prepare your average Mountain House freeze dried backpacking meal. It was a warm summer day, and I performed the test on my concrete patio in my backyard. My backyard is fully fenced so the wind was minimal. In other words, ideal conditions.

Here, I lit the Esbit cube using a common Bic lighter. It's difficult to see if the cube is actually burning, but it ignites easily.

 

Unfortunately, just over 12 minutes passed without the water coming to a full boil. I had to terminate the test because the cube was flickering out, burning just the remaining traces of the cube left in the tray.

 

I don't consider the test a failure. Did the Esbit fuel bring the water to a full rolling boil? No, but the water was plenty hot enough to burn your tongue if you used it to make food or instant coffee. The water was obviously hot enough to prepare a Mountain House meal. I don't know about you, but I don't like eating scalding hot food. 

If your goal is to heat up your field rations, the Esbit cookset is a viable option for you. If you're looking to bring water to a rolling boil, such as for water purification purposes, you should probably look elsewhere.

Something else interesting to note, is the residue left by the Esbit/hexamine fuel cubes. It left minimal unburned residue on the tray, and a film on the bottom of the cup. It cleaned off for the most part using soap and water, but I still thought it should be documented for those of you that might want this cookset for the long term.

All in all, I think this is a sufficient minimalist cookset. It's self-contained, foolproof, and inexpensive at just $20. No need for liquid fuel or bulky fuel canisters here. Esbit fuel cubes can also be easily stockpiled due to their long shelf life and reasonable price. 

If something along these lines interests you, may want to consider the Esbit Spirit Cookset. For $40.01, it is essentially the same cookset, plus a slightly larger pot, and a brass alcohol burner. I know alcohol is a popular fuel for those hitting the trails, and has countless prepping applications as well. Food for thought.

Alternate Field Cooking Options

I'm going to be doing a series of write ups on some alternate field cooking options. It's not difficult to find reviews on common backpacking stoves. The options I will be looking at however, will be less popular but can be found on the shelves of likely any local Walmart store. More importantly, these options may be suitable for those of you that are on a strict budget or simply appreciate a minimalist approach. As awesome as MSR canister and liquid fuel stoves are, they can be expensive and usually require some maintenance.

I'm going to do my best to publish these reviews on at least a weekly basis. Stay tuned!  

GSI Pinnacle Dualist Cookset

Until now I've been using an East German mess kit and Coleman Peak 1 stove as my cookset. While I've never really had a problem with either the mess kit or the stove, the mess kit was oddly shaped thus making it difficult to pack. It also made it impossible to store the fuel canister inside the kit as well.

I began looking for a better option. Enter the GSI Pinnacle Dualist cookset and Snow Peak Giga Power stove (with Piezo automatic ignitor).

The cookset is made by GSI Outdoors, while the stove is made by Snow Peak. These are two completely separate companies, however the Pinnacle Dualist was designed with Snow Peak's Giga Power stove in mind. In fact, on the diagram imprinted on the side of the pot, the Giga Power is shown as an example of a stove that is packable inside the pot.

The entire system is contained in one tight package.

 

The included black nylon cookset pouch serves double duty as a "sink.". While I wouldn't want food particles or greasy residue inside the pouch from using it as a sink, I can see myself using it as an improvised general water container. As you can see, the seams of the sack are welded and the interior of the sack has a rubberized feel to it.

The handle of the pot is permanently attached, no detachable or flimsy pot handles here. The handle locks in both the open and closed position, and can be released by squeezing the sides of the handle together.  The handle is nice and sturdy when opened, and keeps the entire system together when closed. Here's a closer view of how the handle attaches to the pot.

The lid of the pot is transparent which gives you the ability to see if your water is boiling without lifting the lid and allowing heat to escape. The lid also has holes allowing you to use it as a strainer, a NICE TOUCH for making Ramen noodles. The handle of the lid is a simple fold-down tab.

The entire cookset and stove nests neatly inside the pot.

One of my initial concerns with this system was noise. With each component nestled within itself, I believed that there was a strong possibility of rattling. Surprisingly, everything is packed so tightly together that it makes zero noise inside my pack. On today's hike, I ran for approximately a quarter mile hoping to find out just how noisy the system would be. I honestly didn't hear anything.

The Pinnacle Dualist comes with two collapsible sporks, or "foons" as GSI calls them. Opening and closing the foon is accomplished by simply sliding the foon down the handle.

The Pinnacle Dualist comes with two bowls and two insulated mugs, with the mugs storing inside the bowls. One set is orange while the other is blue, a nice touch for two people that may be sharing the system. Inside each mug and bowl are measurement markings, handy for cooking.

The mugs are insulated with a neoprene type material which keeps your beverages hot for quite a while. Each mug also has a detachable sippy lid.

The Pinnacle Dualist provides a storage pouch for your stove in order to keep it from rattling around or getting damaged.

The Giga Power is much like any typical canister stove but is exceptionally small and light. Setting up the stove is a simple process of threading it onto a fuel canister.

The Snow Peak windscreen is a separate accessory. The windscreen increases the performance of the stove and decreases boil time. In order to mount the windscreen you have to partially open the stove support legs and slide the windscreen over them. Once mounted and you fully open the stove legs, they secure the windscreen down solidly.

The particular model of stove that I purchased features the Piezo automatic ignitor. One simple click of the gray push button ignites the stove.

On the lunch menu today was Ramen noodles, requiring two cups of boiling water. The Giga Power managed to bring two cups of water to a rolling boil in 3:46 minutes, in high winds.

The collapsible foons are sturdy enough to use for stirring while cooking, a concern from many reviews on REI and Trail Space.

Strainer lid in action, straining the broth from the noodles.

A bowl of noodles and a mug of chicken broth in less than five minutes in the field. Future menus may include a bowl of instant oatmeal and a mug of coffee.

The beauty of this system is that it provides a utensil, bowl, and insulated mug for two people. If you needed to, you could use the mugs as bowls, allowing you to serve for four people! In the event that I go out alone, I can leave half the system at home in order to make more room for spices, food, etc.
When you look at the entire system and all that it includes, it surprises you that it fits in the pot.