Help with titanium pots

Are you going to be rehydrating food in a separate container or cooking directly in the pot?

Probably a little bit of both.

Although this varies quite a bit, the average backpacker is going to want a main course of 15-16 fluid ounces. That means for two people you are looking at virtually one liter. So, with 0.9 liter you could get by, but the next size larger would give you more latitude without adding too many grams. A few backpackers are perfectly fine with reducing this to 0.9 or less for two. Or, if you want to get creative, you could get one 0.9 and one 1.3 and hope that they nest.

Lots of stuff made on the Pacific Rim is currently held up in the West Coast shipping bottleneck. That ought to ease up soon.

–B.G.–

Due to your requirements, you really should consider the MSR Titan 2 peice set as well.

It comes with 1.5 and 1 liter pots, a lid that fits both pots and their excellent litelifter pot grabber.

The set is quite light for it's capcity at about 9oz. all up. Compared to all lot of the UL Ti stuff out there, the MSR stuff is very ding/ dent resistant.

Prolite gear has the MSR sets in stock and on sale for $105 shipped.

http://www.prolitegear.com/site/msr-titan-2-pot-set.html

If you just want to reduce weight AND you are mainly heating water then aluminum pots are a pretty nice choice. If you select aluminum, I would recommend an anodized or hard anodized surface.

In terms of size, 0.9 liters will works fine for two. If you get into more elaborate meals, you might want to got to 1.3 liters.

I like titanium because cost really doesn't matter to me over a +10 year period. I also like the fact that I can clean it out with sand and rocks (and I don't have to worry about degrading a coated surface.

When I take my kids, I just bring a separate cooking set. Also as they are vegetarians, we cook different meals.

Best regards.

Jon

I use a snowpeak .9 liter, which is a tall pot, not a wide one, and given a tall pot gives you more actually usable volume for cooking than a short one (simple volume math, if you take say 1" from top as practical limit, you have more usable volume with a narrow pot), I'm not sure how a .9 liter could feed two people when mine is frequently about 2/3 or so full for me, and I'm not a very large person. I do eat very well on the trail though.

I do cook in the pot however, but given that I usually use 2 cups, 500 ml of water, per meal to rehydrate, plus 1 cup or so of dehydrated food, I'm not clear on how two people's meals could fit into .9 l, 900 ml, the math doesn't work out even if I was just boiling the water in the pot. For breakfast I often will boil almost 3 cups, 750ml.

So go with the 1.3 liter for two. Or the 1.5 + 1 liter someone mentioned above.

If you're going aluminum, might i suggest the GSI "boiler" pots. Nice non-stick surface, and awesome handle.

Two pots, two stoves.
1.3 L pots far better than 0.9 L pots for two people imho. Stuff sloshes out of the smaller pot.
Brands – afaik they all come out of one or two titanium factories in Asia. The carbide-faced dies are a bit pricy.

Cheers

There have to be at least three different Ti sporting cookware plants in Asia.

1)Japan -Snowpeak and Evernew etc in Japan.
2)At least one in.China
3)At least one in Thialand
4)There may also be one in S. Korea..

The Chinese are not making the Jap and Thai pots beucase the non Chinese pots are sll marked with country of mfg. The Japanese and Seagull in Thailand are making their own stuff. When you have them all together to compare, the alloys are a diffrent color and they all have slightly different hardess and wear characteristics..

Maybe someday it will be all made in the PRC, but not yet.

Probably a little bit of both

Consider aluminium for cooking food in the pot. Altho' it can be done using Ti, it's not easy and usually results in burnt food stuck to the bottom.
I keep my Ti pot for boiling water only. That way tea/coffee does not taste of last night's meal.

I tried the nesting 1.3 and 0.9l evernew pots for 2 adults and 2 kids, and I ended up switching to the 1.9l evernew pot later – for the convenience of a single pot, and to get a bit of extra room to prevent sloshing/spillage. 1.9l is hardly a big elephant – not much bigger in dimension than the 1.3l. Plus, you pack up all your kitchen stuff into the pot anyway, so the added volume used in your pack is really near zero. You might also consider getting the 1.8l GSI halulite deep aluminum pot ($19 at REI outlet!) instead of Ti, and nesting an evernew eca-278 inside it. I have gotten by with the eca-278 for hot water cooking for 2 often, and you could add/nest the bigger 1.8l aluminum pot when cooking in the pot with a group and worry a lot less about scorching. I really like the eca-278 for two, cuz you just use the pot and cup for both cooking and eating and drinking for two.

In my opinion the evernew pots are vastly superior in fit and finish to all the other brands, and much better thought out in terms of usability. Little details. For example, on the snowpeak 2l pot, the lid just rests on the outside of the pot lid. On the evernew, the top of the pot has an indent and the lid rests inside that lip – so when you put the pot in your pack, the pot is much more crushproof. On the snowpeak mini cookset, the cup is 2" high, and quite "spilly" being that low. the evernew eca-278 cup is just a bit taller – you'd think not a big deal, but makes the cup much less "spilly". Many small details like that – imho worth the scavenger hunt to get the evernew.

"You might also consider getting the 1.8l GSI halulite deep aluminum pot ($19 at REI outlet!) instead of Ti"

GSI's "halulite" is haul-you-heavy: 1.8L at 11oz vs. Open Country HA 2L at 6oz (+1 for the lifter)

Hi Jimmer

OK, interesting. The number has been creeping up.
All still in Asia tho'.

Cheers

Yeo, all Asian made..Actually, there may be more than one Ti cookware maker in borh China and Japan as well. Hard to tell.

The really sad thing is there are no US makers of Ti pots at all and the only US made pots left are the aluminum pots from Open Country. Long may they prosper.

Four Dog Stoves sells some of the anodized aluminum pots made by Open Country (O.C.). All of the O.C. pots nest as is shown in the 4 Dog video. Do not buy the 4 Dog bail handle, it is too heavy.

REI sells the unanodized aluminum, almost two quart O.C. pot if you want to test drive a 1.75 liter size. It might accept whatever pot you are currently using as the second pot.

The factory lids are too heavy.

At Toaks.com, the Ti pots are grouped by their inside diameters so you can see what nests, but the heights vary. I would consider trying to get by with using the deeper lid as the second pot. I do not know if those lids nest under the pot for efficient carrying.

GSI has a couple of new Halulite Boilers that might work.

http://gsioutdoors.com/activities/pdp/halulite_1.1_l_boiler/ultralight_backpacking

8.6 oz for the 1.1L

"That said, would you go with a 1.3 liter or a 0.9 liter size pot? I want the most versatility without going too big."

As previously mentioned, difficult to say without knowing your cooking style. If most of your cooking will be in a bag, then 900ml is more than sufficient. If you're going to eat family style on the trail and in pot, then I'd suggest the 1.3L.

Either of these sizes should give you plenty of options to do some luxurious cooking and/or baking on the trail.

"Also, it seems harder to find the Evernew pots in stock than Snow Peak, Vargo, or Toaks. Is there that much difference from one brand to the next?"

I have the Evernew 600ml paired with a Caldera Cone and I think it is excellent.

I also own a Toaks 700ml mug, 550ml mug, and 900ml pot. They are excellent too, much cheaper than Evernew, and easier to find.

I had a Snowpeak 700ml mug and thought that they overengineered the lid and handles and found that the mug was heavier than it needed to be. I can't speak for their pots.

I've never owned a Vargo product.

Now if you want to go UL and make every ounce count, the smallest/lightest I've gone for two people is by carrying a Toaks 550ml mug and sharing a meal with my kid/nephew that required no more than two cups of water and supplementing the meal with non cook items. You could buy two of those. When using Esbit or Coghlans fuel tablets, I only need 1 oz of fuel total to heat my morning drink and my evening meal. I could get by with .5oz of fuel if I really wanted to push it.

I carried this kit on my Wonderland trail hike this past summer. My complete kit including spoon, lighter, and all of my fuel was less than 8oz for six days on the trail.

"I have the Evernew 600ml paired with a Caldera Cone and I think it is excellent."

Ian (or anyone else w/the same)–

what's your breakfast cooking style? Can you boil enough for a hot breakfast + hot drink in the 600 ml?

For me, yes. If breakfast is oatmeal, I heat two cups of water, pour one cup into my oatmeal, and then use the rest for coffee, adding more water if necessary. If you drink freeze dried coffee then the process is fairly straight forward. I drink Turkish style (cowboy) coffee which requires bringing the water to a boil at least twice. Sometimes I can do this with .25oz of solid fuel (Esbit/Coghlans) but on a bad day it may take .5oz.

I typically eat no cook food for breakfast on longish days when I'm trying to get some miles in so the above technique is more for when I'm hiking at a more relaxed pace.

thanks Ian.

With a group, a canister stove and a large aluminum pot will help keep up with hot water demands and leave the option of cooking a large single pot meal. With meals, hot drinks and washing, hot water needs seem to go exponential. With a canister stove the fuel weight can be shared too.

I would go for hard anodized or non-stick aluminum. IMHO, a .9 liter pot works well for two and I would look at a 1.5 or 2 liter for 4. Ti is more cost/weight effective for .6~.9 liter kits.

The old MSR Blacklite kits make a good family set and you can just take one of the pots. You can get an Open Country 2 quart aluminum non-stick pot super cheap.

I really appreciate all of the help! Lots of good food for thought here!

Right now, I'm leaning towards the 1.3 liter size.

Trying to figure all of this out for the four of us is definitely making my head spin a little.

If you consider a Caldera stove set-up for whatever pot(s) you choose, be aware that some pots of different capacity will fit with the same Caldera cone (even though the cones are designed to be pot-specific). So you don't have to buy two different Caldera cone setups (one for each pot) if you choose two pots that can fit the same size Caldera cone.

If you decide to purchase a Caldera cone setup and would like to use the same cone with two different pots depending on the capacity needed for a particular trip, might want to check with Trail Designs about what you have in mind (before choosing which pot or pots to buy) to be sure that both of the pots you're considering can work OK with a particular cone.

For example, I have a Sidewinder cone that fits an Evernew UL 1.3L pot (wide version). The same cone also fits an Open Country 2qt HA pot.

The 1.3L pot with Sidewinder cone is plenty enuf capacity for a trip of two folks; while for a trip with four folks, the Open Country 2qt HA aluminum pot does the job using the same Sidewinder cone (although the OC pot is not a full 2qt capacity, being about a half-cup shy of 2 quarts).

The Evernew UL 1.3L pot is listed for $74.95 at Trail Designs —

http://www.traildesigns.com/cookware/evernew-titanium-ultra-light-13l-pot-eca253

Trails Designs lists the Open Country 2qt HA aluminum pot for $24.95 —

http://www.traildesigns.com/cookware/open-country-2-quart-hard-anodized-pot

I typically make the Knorr side dishes with a packet of tuna and maybe some dried peas thrown in for dinner.

I had a 1 liter pot. But it was impossible to stir food that needed to simmer without sloshing 20% out… And I decided I couldn't give up Knorr Alfredo dishes or Kraft Mac-n-Cheese.

1.3 liters is the minimum in my opinion. 1.5 would be better for 2 people and something you have to stir while simmering. 2 liters is big overkill and lots harder to fit into your pack (if you don't fill the inside of the pot with stuff that needs to be in your pack, but isn't related to cooking).

Ps: titanium is THIN. This causes 2 problems: foods burn to the bottom super easily, and it's easier to bend if you sit on it :). Anodized aluminum is better for cooking with and very easy to clean since it's almost non-stick (without the fears of Teflon flaking off into your food).