I recently encountered this little delight. If you are in the market for a fuel stove which burns clean and won’t scorch the ground (and sets up in a jiffy) this may be the solution for you. It unfolds (out of its bag) from its flat-pack form in less than five seconds. Another few seconds can be spent tossing in some kindling – leaves and small twigs.
Light,then keep on adding small sticks. It couldn’t be simpler.
Inside you can see the double wall (gasifier) construction and also the pot supports. All the heat will wrap around your pot making it heat up very quickly indeed. The shelf at the front stops the twigs from falling out.
Away she goes.
Add a few sticks and pop the billy on. This one is a MSR Titan Kettle, a popular solo pot which fits perfectly.
500 mls of room temperature water has boiled in less than 4 minutes – enough for a cuppa for you and your mate.
It keeps on burning without adding any twigs for several minutes.
On a coldish night it would be fun to just sit by it feeding in a couple of twigs now and then – but not too close to your tent, please. It would keep you quite warm whilst using very little wood. Gazing at the wondrous patterns of the flames is better than watching TV in my opinion.
As you can see it burns very smoothly and cleanly.
Its inventor, Brice has just completed a Kickstarter campaign for it and will have it for sale on his website soon: Ganesha Ultralight Stove. It weghs 7.8 ounces (220 g) in titanium, 13.0 ounces (367 g) in stainless steel. It comes with a fireproof ground cloth to prevent singeing the vegetation. Of course the fact that the combustion takes place about an inch above the ground also helps in this. The secondary (gasifier) combustion also means that it burns beautifully cleanly. It is ideally suited for pots like this or around 900mls but you can place a much larger pot or a frypan on the top of the stove. It does come in three sizes should you need a larger one eg for car camping.
The Ganesha stove is an intelligently designed stove which should free you from having to carry cumbersome (and less environmentally friendly) gas cartidges etc. There is nothing else to carry. A hundred grams (or so) of readily available twigs will have your hiking meal cooked in a jiffy, and it can jeep you warm after that by just adding twigs. Of course you could (also) use it as a windscreen for you alcohol stove if you so chose.
I have been a great fan of gasifier stoves, once going they produce no smoke and are very fuel efficient . I have a small ss one which is in 3 parts which nest inside of each other. This fits easily in a 20 lItre day or overnight pack. Another larger one for my permanent camps which I sit on top of an upturned 20 l metal drum which i use to collect twigs and larger wood: i made an extended lightweight trivet that sits atop but still allows me to gaze at the flames and also feed fairly large chunks of wood in. I can easily boil a 9l ss bucket of water on top, or cook in a medium 12 inch camp oven. When not cooking I turn the heavy cast iron camp oven lid upside down on the trivet and its mass projects heat out a long way, and will still cook or warm food. By sitting it on the upturned 20 l drum it is at an ideal height to throw the heat at midriff height. My camps tend to be other than ultralightweight due to age and infirmity; that doesn’t mean that I neglect to save weight in other areas of my kit.
I am very interested in your smallest one which comes in three pieces.