Where to buy Esbit in Canada

[David Lewis]

Well… I just found out the Esbit can no longer be shipped to Canada. I'm pretty bummed since my entire cooking setup is based on Esbit… and I LOVE Esbit. I might be able to order it from someone else (like Campmor) who may not know the new postal rules… but I'd rather save the hassle and the risk that my new supplier might eventually wise up… leaving me in the same spot. So I spent the entire afternoon trying to find a Canadian supplier. Wow. This stuff is really hard (but not impossible) to find in Canada. I called every camping store in town. I called the Scout Shop. I called an Army/Navy Surplus. And I spent literally HOURS on Google. All afternoon. If anyone else is interested (any other Canadians here?)… this is what I found:

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1/ A company in Toronto that imports toy steam engines which use the 4g tablets. They carry and sell the boxes of 20. I prefer the 14g tablets. The 4g tablets are not blister packed and you'd need 3 to get a decent boil.

Yesteryear Toys

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2/ I registered and posted on a Canadian Army forum and got a reply from someone informing me their outfitting company, CP Gear, will be stocking Esbit products sometime within the next 2 months. Great news!! And it's only one province away from me (4 hour drive?)… so the shipping costs should not be too bad.

CP Gear

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3/ Ok… this is the craziest thing of all!!! From my hours and hours on Google… I also found this one store in Toronto that sells 14g tablets. I didn't spend too much time on their website since the page is so brutal is almost crashed my browser (Firefox handles the page better). After finding little else tho', I went back to get the contact info.

Here's the crazy part… when I saw the address… I recognized the street name. I went to my address book… and sure enough… it's the SAME STREET that a very close friend of mine lives on!!!! She lives literally a few doors down from this store!!!! Insane. So after all that… I'm probably just going to call my friend and get her to send my a big supply of Esbit from this weird shop in Kensington Market. She actually just made me a pair of pants that she measured me for last Christmas (she's a fashion designer)… and she hasn't gotten around to sending them yet… so that's perfect. In a couple of weeks I'll get a package with pants and fuel! LOL :)

Uncle Sams Army Navy Deals

I hope this helps someone… if not now… then in the future.

[Johnny Gish]

i cant email you because there is no email provided. anyways hit me up at [email protected] I can get plenty of esbit tabs for you, much cheaper than anywhere.

[Stephen Petschulat]

Thanks for the info… I was looking for a source a while back, but didn't have much luck, so I have been using Coghlan's. Just the other day though, I found out Mountain Magic in Surrey, BC carries Esbit:

http://www.mountainmagic.com/

I have't had a chance to try the Esbits out yet. Do they perform better?

[David Lewis]

Thanks Stephen. There's is one of the many websites I found yesturday and checked… but they don't have esbit on the site at least.

I think Esbit is a little less messy than regular Hexamine… but I'm not really sure of the differences.

[David Lewis]

Here are the final results of my search for a Canadian source for 14 gram Esbit fuel tablets. Yesteryear Toys is the cheapest source at $6.95 per box with reasonable shipping rates. All prices are in Canadian dollars.

Yesteryear Toys
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Their site only shows the 4g tablets, but they sell the 14g tablets as well. Located in Brighton, ON. Contact directly to buy the 14g tablets.

Price

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$6.95 per 12 pack + HST + shipping

Shipping (to Nova Scotia)

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$6.95 + HST on orders less than $35
$8.95 + HST on orders between $35-$100

Contact Info

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Shawn Van Meeuwen
Toll Free: 1-800-481-1353
Phone: (613) 475-1771
http://www.yesteryeartoys.ca
[email protected]

Serg (eBay seller)
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His eBay auction and store pages only show the 4g tablets, but he sells the 14g tablets as well. Contact directly for the 14g tablets. His distributor is Yesteryear Toys, so his price and shipping quotes are identical. He is also located in Southern Ontario.

Price

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$6.95 per 12 pack + HST + shipping

Shipping

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$6.95 + HST on orders less than $35
$8.95 + HST on orders between $35-$100

Contact Info

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Serg
http://stores.ebay.com/Toy-Steam-Engines-and-Collectibles
[email protected]

Greenland Sales
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You can order directy from the AGS Labs Canadian Distributor. AGS Labs is, I believe, the North American manufacturer of Esbit. As well as the 14g tablets, they also sell the pocket stove kit (stove + 6 tablets) for $19.00 (item #62240). Located in Markham, Ontario.

Price

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$9.00 per 12 pack + HST + shipping (item #62242)

Shipping

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Didn't ask… but it's shipped via UPS from Markham, ON

Contact Info

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Brian Elliott
Greenland Sales
Phone 604 320 0445
[email protected]

CP Gear
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An online army / navy outfitter. They do not sell Esbit currently but they emailed me and told me that they will be selling Esbit products within the next 2 months. Check the website in a few months (May / June). Located in Fredericton, NB.

Contact Info

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Matt Fisher
http://www.cpgear.com/
Toll Free: 800-561-3040 (Canada)
International: 506-444-8959

Uncle Sams
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They have an online store with a Canadian address, URL and pricing, but the product actually ships from New York. When I ordered from them the site claimed that shipping would be free. In the end, I was charged for shipping, I was charged for GST when I placed the order, I was charged GST again by the customs people and I was charged the standard $5 customs fee. Needless to say, DO NOT order from them online!

However, if you live in Toronto, they have a physical store in Kensington Market that sells Esbit. It's expensive but the convenience may be worth it to you if you live in the city.

Price

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$12.00 per 12 pack

Contact Info

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199 Baldwin Street (Kensington Market)
Toronto ON
(416) 597-9592

[Gene .]

David, Let's hope the Esbit is fresh, or else those pants you get might smell like fish! If you get over to Houlton,ME check around there for some.

[David Lewis]

Actually… he wanted twice the price to buy them from the physical store… so I ordered the Esbit from the website. The pants will come from my friend seperately :)

[David Lewis]

Hey all,

If anyone is interested (I know there is at least one other Canadian who has posted on this thread)… do not order from armynavydeals.ca. They were included in my compehensive list above as a Canadian source… but I just got my shipment today and they are NOT a Canadian source… despite the Canadian URL… the Canadian pricing on their site… and the Canadian address on their website. My Esbit shipped from New York. So not only did I get dinged the standard $5 for customs… I also got charged for GST… AGAIN!!! Their website already added the 5% GST federal tax to my order total… which seemed right since it was (I thought) a Canadian website. But since it shipped from the states… I got charged for the tax a second time when it crossed the border. American companies should not be collecting a Canadian federal sales tax. Also… their site claims free shipping… but it's not free shipping. BTW… they got around the export regulations by declaring the Esbit as "Vitamin Samples". I don't think I'll be taking them as vitamins… LOL :)

Anyway… bottom line… scatch Uncle Sams / Armynavydeals.ca from my list. The best Canadian source is yesteryeartoys.ca. That's who I'm going with from now on.

[Christopher Snow]

Thanks so much for all that work. I also put in what I thought was an inordinate amount of searching but did not get the results you did. Thanks from Toronto, Inertia.

[David Lewis]

Hey Christopher,

You're very welcome! I was pretty freaked out when I found out that I could not order Esbit from any of my usual American sources… and could not find it from a Canadian source. The list above was the result of almost an entire weekend of googling, emailing, searching, forum postings and phone calls. I'm very happy that this work helped someone else out! That's why I posted it… so it's good to know that it helped at least one person.

So are you going to order online from Yesteryear or just ride the Spadina Car down to Uncle Sams?

I edited my original "Final" list above BTW… to take out the Uncle Sams online store info and hotlink the URL's. I tried to hotlink the emails, but the forum backend seemed to strip those links off when I posted.

[Christopher Snow]

Walked to the Army Surplus store, but they did not actually have Esbits, rather 1 very old pack of crumbly "HMAK"; apparently the Swedish army equivalent. Bought it for $4, so at least I have something for my Canadian adventures.

Next time I will try the bunch in Burlington.

Thanks again for your research,

Warwick
Not actually Chris; but using his computer as we are both thru hiking the PCT this summer, planning to use lots of esbits purchased from REI in San Diego

[René Enguehard]

Sorry to have to revive an old thread, but I just learnt from Yesteryear Toys that they will no longer be carrying the 14g Esbit tablets. They have some stock left, sold at 6.95$ per pack, 30$ for 5 packs and 50$ for 10 (quite the deal). I've enquired to them as to where else I could get some in Canada once they ran out, but am still waiting on a reply. Will post more information as it becomes available.

[David Lewis]

A bit of Google searching shows that this stuff is still hard to find online in Canada. However, lots of American sellers on eBay who claim to ship Worldwide. Perhaps an individual would not be too particular about the shipping rules around Esbit. I know if you try to order it from BPL or REI they will say that they can't do it.

Looking at my own original post above, I checked out Uncle Sams and they have a new website now that sells the stuff online. Expensive though.
http://bit.ly/ab1KQD

That said, I was shocked to see an Esbit stove (with tablets) in my local Crappy Tire recently!!! They still don't sell the actual replacement tablets though. Not in my town at least. But they DID start carrying the Coglans brand tablets a while ago. So there's always that option.

I also found an ancient dusty old box of Esbit at my local Army Navy Surplus here in Halifax. I'm thinking it was from WWII. LOL :o) It was just one box and the price was high… so I didn't bother picking it up. I still have a moderate stockpile at home (maybe 3 boxes left).

Thanks for the heads up about YesterYear though. I think I may just stock up!!!! You can't beat $5/pack!!! Also, I find I never end up using the full tab. Maybe the small ones would be big enough? But I think then I'd end up using two tabs all the time since they are a fair bit smaller.

[David Ure]

Campers Village in Edmonton and Calgary carry a cohlgan brand. I believe they are 11 or 14g tablets.

[Steven Evans]

I found this thread a LONG time ago when I was searching for esbit tabs (Thank you Mr. lewis!). I ordered from Yesteryear Toys and it worked out well….however, about a year or so ago I saw my Canadian Tire started selling the Coughlans Fuel Tablets and they have been working out great for me.

Some info…

– A pack of 24 costs $5.39
– Each tablet is round and weighs 6.5 grams
– 2 tablets brings 2 cups (500ml) of water to a boil every time with a Ti Wing Stove and windscreen
– They are not individually wrapped, so once you open them you need to put them in a bag or something

Enjoy!

[Donna C]

Coughlans tablets burn faster and one tablet = 1/2 Esbit. You need to use 2 at a time to get any kind of boil, at least in my experience. YMMV.

[Gary Boyd]

Can let me know and I'll pick some up for you.

[Robert Cowman]

Eddie Bauer's carry the esbit tabs from time to time during camping season and Christmas(in Alberta anyway). This was in 2008/2009 might have changed since they were sold in the summer of 2009. thy also carry S2S stuff sacks, elites and GSI stuff to sometimes

[René Enguehard]

Final word from Yesteryear Toys came in today: they will no longer carry the 14g Esbit tablets since Esbit has moved their production back to the USA. This means that the 14g tablets will no longer be available anywhere in Canada, period. Esbit will apparently continue manufacturing the smaller tablets in Canada, and these will continue to be available through Yesteryear Toys (still one of the best/cheapest place to get them).

Cheers,
R

[René Enguehard]

I just got an email from the Coghlan's rep I had contacted and their fuel tablets, sold at Canadian Tire (Tyre?), are actually hexamine. While they are smaller, they should perform identically to the same amount in Esbit tablets. I'll get a batch and run a proper comparative study. More to follow.

[René Enguehard]

Alright, I've run a formal test of both Esbit and the Coghlan's fuel tablets. The results are as follows:

1xEsbit @ 14g heats 1L of 15.6C water to 77.2C.
3xCoghlan's @ 16g (total) heat 1L of 17.5C water to 88.2C.

Given this, we can calculate the amount of heat output for each tablet type, per gram, using specific heat values adjusted for the water temperature. The results are:

Esbit: [1000g * 4.186 J/(g*K) * 61.6K] / 14g = 18417.97 J/g
Coghlans: [1000g * 4.184 J/(g*K) * 70.7K] / 16g = 18488.05 J/g

Considering the fact that we have a difference of less than 0.4% between these two samples, which can easily be attributed to experimental error, I would submit that they probably perform identically on a per-gram basis.

However, it is worthwhile to note that the Esbit tablets smell considerably more "fishy" than the Coghlan's tablets but leave much less residue. Moreover, the Coghlan's tablets had a very distinctive (and displeasing) smell when they were burning, left a very sticky (hard to clean) residue on the pot, left a lot of ash in the tray and are not individually wrapped. Overall, given the choice, I would go for Esbit over Coghlan's primarily due to the residue issue. YMMV.

[Todd Beal]

I just bought some from http://www.greatadventures.ca

[René Enguehard]

After a little research, I found out that you mean http://www.greatadventure.ca (the one you linked to is some kind of expedition blog). Decent price for the tabs (8.38$) and 7$ for shipping, so it's worth buying a batch of these.

Thanks so much for the link Todd, I was wondering where I would find some next!

[Hikin’ Jim]

I've run a formal test of both Esbit and the Coghlan's fuel tablets…

…a difference of less than 0.4% between these two samples, which can easily be attributed to experimental error, I would submit that they probably perform identically on a per-gram basis.

However, it is worthwhile to note that the Esbit tablets smell considerably more "fishy" than the Coghlan's tablets but leave much less residue. Moreover, the Coghlan's tablets had a very distinctive (and displeasing) smell when they were burning, left a very sticky (hard to clean) residue on the pot, left a lot of ash in the tray and are not individually wrapped.

So, the Coghlans are harder to clean up after (the residue from Esbit scrubs right off in my experience) but otherwise they perform the same. Good to know; thanks for running the experiments.

HJ

[Emily B]

I know this is an old thread, but in case anyone in Canada still wants the 14g Esbit, and is willing to pay the big bucks, it can be found on http://www.camouflage.ca for about $12-something after tax. Shipping looks to be about $7 – $9 (in Canada) depending on how many boxes are ordered. I got it at their physical store in downtown Vancouver to avoid shipping. If you want to do the same, call ahead of time– sometimes they don't have it in stock. They told me that, if not in stock, they can order it (at no additional cost), and it would take a week or two for it to arrive at the store.
http://www.camouflage.ca/ultra_force_esbit_solid_fuel_tabs_p/uf648.htm

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