Someone pointed out to me years ago that Weber Firestarter Cubes were a cheap alternative to esbit for an emergency tinder source. They work perfectly, and I've started many fires in terrible conditions with them. However, on my last outing, I found the cube I had brought along would not light for love or money. Just wouldn't burn. I actually had to resort to using natural materials to start a fire (gasp!), which is obviously an entirely unacceptable outcome.
I'm thinking maybe it dried out? A hole in the ziplock that it had been repackaged in over a year ago? Not entirely sure.
My second question is- does esbit suffer from the same "shelf life"? If kept in the original packaging, would it still expire?
Maybe individually factory wrapped Wetfire is a better choice for emergency kit?
