Best Stove for use with Puncture Canister

[backpackerchick]

Only stove I've ever used is a snow peak titanium one that folds up into a little white box. All I do is boil water in a snow peak titanium solo, add my Mary Jane's Backcountry Cuisine and eat from the pot.

I am about to go on a trip where the only canisters available are the puncture variety. I am sure of my info source! Yes, I am familiar with alternatives to canisters but they scare the crap out of me even when someone else is doing the work. Then there is the whole sniffing at the airport business. In little airports especially, some of these set ups attract way too much attention. Once you attract attention, you get the full treatment! They want to see EVERYTHING else too. Check your tent stakes for dirt, etc.

Looking for a lightweight idiot proof stove that will get the job done!

Hopefully, these puncture canisters will be available in the propane/butane blend though I doubt it.

[Roger Caffin]

Hi Hartley

I am having a problem imagining where you might be going, that only the puncture canisters are available. Not France, for sure.

Can you buy denatured alcohol? (Ethyl alcohol, NOT methyl alcohol.) A simple non-pressurised side-jet stove might be the next option if you don't want to go liquid fuel.

Cheers

[backpackerchick]

I got my info from Kate Clow — the mother of the Lycian Way (www.trekkinginturkey.com). I received an email today with answers to loads of questions — only time woman has to cover head is for mozzies and mosques! Kate says she uses MSR stove but didn't specify model. Asked of course, should hear back soon. Amazing lady!

Just dawned on me…how do you seal the punctured canister? Currently reading up! Don't think I've seen anyone use one.

Different system may be in order. :) Might go for one that burns anything and just learn how to use it. Priming…what's that? LOL Will check about the alcohols you mention but I would imagine so as there are towns and villages along the way. Must be some hardware store (isn't this where you buy that stuff?) or villager who would sell you some.

You travel a ton with this kind of stuff! What do you think stove-wise in terms of airport hassles?

Thanks Roger! This place is great. All these experts.

[Chris Townsend]

You can't seal a puncture canister. You leave the stove attached to it. Or use an adapter that stays attached to it so the stove can be removed. Rather than a stove that fits puncture canisters I'd suggest an adapter. VauDe makes one.

I've travelled extensively with stoves and the only one I've ever had confiscated was a solid fuel one when entering Norway. Canister stoves are no problem.

[Roger Caffin]

Hi Hartley

> how do you seal the punctured canister?
You can't. Any problems, it leaks. Only butane too, so they are very cold-sensitive. That's not a problem in the lower altitudes in Turkey of course!

> Priming…what's that?
Warming up the alcohol so it boils and gives off lots of vapour. Ditto for Shellite stoves. You should read through our technical stove articles.

Buying alcohol in Turkey – probably at local shop or hardware or chemist. It is likely that you will only be offered denatured ethyl alcohol anyhow. But you may have to buy it by the litre, which gets heavy. Take an empty PET bottle in case it comes from a drum.

> What do you think stove-wise in terms of airport hassles
You can expect problems whenever you travel with a 'liquid-fuel' stove. (ie Shellite or kero type). The airport security guys recognise these and go nuts over them.
You never take canisters on a plane – that will get you into trouble, although the ones with valves are actually quite safe. No point arguing tho'.
You will have no trouble with alky stoves – no-one at the airports will even recognise them. :-) Just don't take any alcohol of course.

Cheers

[Chris Townsend]

Actually, the blue Campingaz C206 puncture canisters are a butane/propane mix and have been for a few years. They are much less expensive than resealable cartridges. I use them with an adaptor for car camping.

[backpackerchick]

Roger, I know what PRIMING is just not sure I want to do it!!

[backpackerchick]

I always seem to get the full treatment. I NEVER complain. I have politely asked about this in a casual way. I am told that those who book last minute or buy tickets at the airport are labeled. Apparently the counter agent is required to note this in the system. I fall into this category.

I was always convinced it was the leatherman I got caught with a few year ago. Thought I was on INTERPOL.

Roger, do you guys still have that TV series in Oz where they bust people at customs.

[backpackerchick]

"Or use an adapter that stays attached to it so the stove can be removed. Rather than a stove that fits puncture canisters I'd suggest an adapter. VauDe makes one."

Thanks Chris and Roger:

Sorry to sound like such a moron, but does such an adapter make my Snow Peak Screw top Stove work with the puncture can. (Roger, I am not sure whether this is the adapter you were referring to in another thread which is why I am asking the question again!) In other words, I buy this single piece adapter and my problem is solved?

[backpackerchick]

Found it in some online Euro gear shops with "unavailable" printed in red next to it. Liability issues?

Reviews say it's heavy so maybe someone in the UL crowd around here has one to sell.

Roger, you make stuff like this? Yeah?

[Franco Darioli]

Re alcohol in Turkey.
I found these two comments :
In the supermarket in Kas you can buy spirit (methanol). It's of purple colour and you will find it in the rack with the liqour.

and

It´s a little bit difficult to find "Ispirto" here in turkey.
I´m living in Antalya and I only found it in "5M Migros" !

Sometimes the trick is to know the name (ispirto) the colour (purple or pink) and the kind of store that is likely to stock it (supermarket or liquor shop if you want Ethanol, like Everclear in the US, expensive) .
For example in Italy (pink) and Greece (blue) it is found in the household cleaning area.
And since you are not a man you can ask rather than aimlessly wonder around for half an hour as we do….
Franco

[Chris Townsend]

That looks like it. I checked the vauDe site and it's not listed so it looks as though it's been discontinued I'm afraid.

[backpackerchick]

You guys all rock. And info so fast. Now Franco, thank you! I am awaiting a reply to my latest email to Kate Clow enquiring as to just which MSR stove she uses.

[John Davis]

Well there I am again, useless information at the tip of my fingers

http://members.iinet.net.au/~mbuckler/fuel/index.shtml#tableoffuelnames

Last column in their table is for alcy stoves.

Many countries call it something different…

[backpackerchick]

John, that's a useful chart. I can just see buying the wrong color and causing an explosion.

Franco, I take it since you have the colors all figured out and know what aisle to find it in at the Migro, this is what you use?

Fires are permitted and apparently easy to start this time of year but stove is easier for me.

I will use a canister somehow. Next group of Germans I come across, I will watch closely how they use their elaborate stoves! That big flash scares me. German hikers seem to be very precise and systematic. I need some of that. Maybe I will find a nice German guy to walk with, cook with,…. :)

I have always been a pyrophobe. I feel adrenaline even lighting my simple snowpeak stove. And the hissing noise it makes when I take it apart freaks me out. I'm not ready for a petrol burning apparatus.

[Franco Darioli]

The comments I posted were not mine but from two guys on another forum.
However I grew up in Italy and have been to Greece.
Keep in mind that in Southern Europe alcohol (mentholated spirit) is commonly used for cleaning ( mixed with water or pure)
(we used it to disinfect wounds. Not a good idea…)
Franco

[Roger Caffin]

Hi Chris

> blue Campingaz C206 puncture canisters are a butane/propane mix and have been for a few years
Really? OK.
I was given a few of these B/P ones when they were first introduced – apparently they didn't sell very well here in Oz at the time. I didn't know Coleman had switched completely.

Yes, they can be used with an adaptor, but the commercial adaptors I have seen (like the pictured one) were all rather heavy. In Europe I have found that the Lindal valve canisters are sufficiently widely available that the puncture cans ceased to be relevant. I think the Bleuet puncture cans are still widely available there – a big backlog of older stoves in the market I think.

If the pictured one is no longer available. … hum, dunno.

[Roger Caffin]

> do you guys still have that TV series in Oz where they bust people at customs.
I wouldn't know. I don't watch TV except for the ABC news (30 minutes). That way my brain has stayed intact.

Cheers

[backpackerchick]

I am confident in my information source that this is the only canister available for this trip!

Which stove?

So you leave such a stove attached on top of the gaz canister and put it in your pack. What keeps it on. Like if you throw your pack around, can it come off and spill gas everywhere?

[backpackerchick]

From: http://www.lycianway.com/MainContent/equipment.html

4. How can I cook?
Camping Gaz blue cylinders that you pierce open are available at several gaz shops (blue signs) in Antalya, Fethiye and Egirdir. Meths (ispirto) for stoves is available at most small shops selling barbecue/kitchen equipment. Leadfree petrol for pump-up stoves is available from filling stations. You can light fires in many areas (use existing fireplaces). Take great care (especially in summer) and make sure that the fire is completely out when you leave – they can spread underground.

[backpackerchick]

Pierce is the one with nothing on top. And puncture is the one that looks like a "normal" one without threads??? I need pierce! BTW, is puncture resealable? The specs on this stuff aren't always clear, IMO.

http://www.actionoutdoors.co.uk/camping_stove_dif.htm

[Roger Caffin]

'Pierce' and 'puncture' are the same thing. You have to make a hole in the top of the canister. This is done with a sturdy hypodermic sort of spike. There is a rubber seal on the attachment which beds against the metal canister to seal the gas in. The picture here shows the top of the canister. The spike goes into the can in the depression at the top.

However, this canister has problems. You should read the report by French authorites at http://www.securiteconso.org/notice519.html?id_article=519 to see what sort of accidents can (and do) happen when this system is misused. basically, the French authorities are not happy that this canister is still in use.

Oh – I should add that is seems the name for the French resealable canisters these days is something like 'Easy-Clic'. Well, whatever.

Cheers

[Derek Goffin]

Hi BPC,
This Karrimor Gosystem travel power pack is still available in Britain. This is another adaptor that clamps a normal threaded valve ontop of the pierced canister, ready for your stove. http://www.needlesports.com/acatalog/Hi_Gear.html
It weighs 275 grams.
I went to Italy and could not find threaded canisters I had to buy a cheap Bluet stove to go with the pierceable canisters. When I got home I found I could screw the valve of the adaptor into the lighter canister cradle of the Bluet stove. This makes a lighter adaptor which now only weighs 110grams.
The simplest thing would be to buy a cheap stove, with your canisters when you get to Anatolia. The stove I had to buy in Italy is heavy but probably no heavier than your snowpeak plus adaptor. It will not be any different to use once you have pierced the canister, just unfold the pot supports, turn the knob and light. The stoves are mostly heavier because they have to cradle the canister to hold it still while the spike pierces the canister and continue to cradle until the canister is empty.

[Willem Jongman]

Here is another supplyer of Vaude/Markill adapters to use different cannisters on your `normal` canister stove: http://www.actionoutdoors.co.uk/shop/vaude-stoves-adapters-c-5158_5177.html?osCsid=7d4f9dc3903ee0d13661d8aa1d1e46f8 As you can see these come on two versions: one for puncture type canisters and one for Campinggaz valved (as used particularly in France). I hate the pierceable/puncture type canisters, as they are dangerous in my view. On the other hand, in many places they are the easiest kind of canisters to get.
I hate the hassle of hunting for fuel, and this has greatly contributed to my preference for alcohol. However, alcohol is not always easy to get either, especially in Islamic countries. Many of my cycle touring friends make long trips in the third world, and their stoves are nearly always multifuel stoves such as the Optimus Nova. They are heavy and fiddly, but you will always find some fuel, even though it may be pretty nasty and poisonous.

[backpackerchick]

Thanks Willhem!

Got an email from Kate in Antalya this morning — she doesn't bother with the blue pierce cans. They are only available in 3 towns along the way anyway. Same with various alcohols.

She uses an MSR stove that will burn unleaded petrol. Says all such stoves are pretty much the same. But that the MSR is especially finicky about dirty fuel. Gearheads, do you also find this to be the case? Suppose they all attract about equal attention in airports?

Guess now's the time to get a multi fuel stove. Will need to get over this sooner or later. What do respectable gearheads use to burn petty?

Note on the canisters: There is one cartridge (I have seen these in Australia as well) that has a little something on the top but no threads? It's not screw top. Lindal? Wasn't sure if that was referred to as "puncture". You can get adapters for those too apparently — much easier to find.

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