looking for titanium pot

[Bill Segraves]

For the last few years, my favorite bowl/pot has been a Snow Peak titanium bowl to which I added a bail handle. When I want to boil a few cups of water or cook a small meal, I can cook with it using an Esbit stove or over a twig fire with the bowl supported by a bail handle.

Now I'm thinking I'm wanting something about twice the size, but otherwise about as close as I can get to the Snow Peak bowl. I'll drill holes to mount a bail handle if it doesn't already have one.

A Vargo 900 ml pot would be close to ideal, but it's coated, and one of the things I like about the Snow Peak bowl is that I can clean it with mud, sand, etc including pebbles. Don't want to have to baby a non-stick coating. (The non-stick coating also doesn't seem to take well to the kinds of uneven heating with which I abuse my bowl.)

Suggestions?

Thanks!

Best,

Bill S.

PS – the Snow Peak Trek 900 doesn't look bad, but it comes in a set with the frypan/lid, which I don't really need.

[Jim C]

You may want to take a look at Toaks Outdoor titanium pots. They have several sizes with removeable bail handles, including 750 and 1100 ml. So a little smaller and bigger than the Vargo you're looking at.

They also have other sizes without bail handles. I've got three sizes: 850 ml, 1350, and 1600 ml, the latter with a bail handle. I bring these for solo, duo, and trio trips, respectfully. The handles (bail and regular) are removeable on all of them.

Many of them are stocked by Amazon, so if you're a prime member, that may be an advantage for you.

Toaks now has some lighter weight pots (no bail handle) which use a thinner grade titanium. These are probably worth looking into, as I have found my three pots more than sturdy enough.

http://toaksoutdoor.com/potwithbailhandle.aspx

[jimmer ultralight]

Bill,

If you want a short,wide 900 ml pot, pribabky the bedt deal going for you is the TOAKS 900 ml pot at $45. It weighs 3.5 oz with lid(lighter even than the Evernew 900ml) and seems like a good choice for you.
Its about 2.5" tall by 5.25" wide. Actually, I think the SnowPeak 600 bowl will just fit inside it, if you ever want to pack both.

And, like you,I really like the Snow Peak 600 and wish they woukd make a 1200 ml size ,something like 6" wide by 3" tall..

[Bill Segraves]

Thanks Jim and Jimmer. :)

Is the Toaks ultralight (900, e.g.) much thinner than the Snow Peak bowl? I beat the heck out if my Snow Peak (dents, etc, and I've warped lighter pots with uneven heating) and am not sure it'd be wise to go with something that'll be a lot less durable. Will it hold up to systematic abuse?

Thanks again!

Cheers

Bill

[jimmer ultralight]

Bill,

At 1.8 oz,I dont see how you can find a lighter guage Ti pot than the SP 600..and You CAN warp them on a normal backpacking stove.been there ,done that. The trek bowl is not exactly bomb proof

Id bet the actual guage of metal on.the TOAKS 900 would be about the same. And, with.the square corners and stiffening ring in the pot base, even more resistent to warping than the SP trek bowl..

[Eric Blumensaadt]

I just gotta ask, what is wrong with an anodized aluminum pot?

It's lighter, heats more evenly and costs less.

[Bill Segraves]

Eric, can you recommend a specific pot or pots for comparison? The ones I'm seeing are heavier, and the really light aluminum things I've seen get crushed or bent too easily.

Thanks!

Best,

Bill

P.S. – Thanks to others for their suggestions. I decided to start by trying the Snow Peak Trek 900, largely because I got a good deal on it, but will keep the Toaks in mind if I end up getting another.

[Roger Caffin]

> I just gotta ask, what is wrong with an anodized aluminum pot?
> It's lighter, heats more evenly and costs less.
Nothing at all wrong with them.
Not sure the even heating amounts to very much: they are very thin-wall too, but they are certsainly no worse than the Ti ones.

The UL Aluminium pots are a little more prone to damage, that's all.

Cheers

[Dustin Dawson]

The TOAKS are great. I have used my 1600ml pot a lot and it is very tough. At $50 it is the the cheapest Ti pot at that size. I don't have the bail handle, but the pot comes with a lid/sauce pan. I normally leave the pan at home and just bring a foil lid that I made out of an old aluminum lasagna pan. That pot with my aluminum lid is only 160g. I really like the 1600ml pot as I can just barely make enough food for three if my wife, son and I all go on a trip together. The same size pot with the bail handle is 210g. I'm not a fan of bail handles as they don't fit well into my cozy.

Hope this helps,
Dustin

[Eric Blumensaadt]

Trail Designs sells hard anodized aluminum pots made by, I believe, "Open Country".

[monkey]

"I just gotta ask, what is wrong with an anodized aluminum pot?

It's lighter, heats more evenly and costs less."

Health, rather not have toxins in my food. Anodized aluminum is less reactive than non-anodized but can still leach aluminum, and if the surface gets damaged/scratched it opens the door to the unprotected alu – nope thank you very much :)

[Franco Darioli]

Be careful then.
Aluminium is found in antacids, baking powders, Aspirin coating, cocoa powder, antiperspirants,cereals, malt,beer, tap water, spinach, potatoes, tea…..

[monkey]

^That leaves spinach and potatoes (strictly organic btw), as I don't use anything else on the list including tap water as RO filter takes care of it.

It's too early in the morning to even bother to check, but I suspect we're talking apples and oranges – the amount of alu found in these two foods would be no where near what can come off a scratched pot.

YMMV – but this is the main reason I prefer titanium. In addition to its durability and good looks.

[Sarah Kirkconnell]

Well……just make sure you know WHERE your Ti pots come from, where did the Ti get sourced from? Not all is equal.

HAA is fine – but common sense also comes into play: Don't use metal utensils to cook with (use bamboo!), don't use forks or knives in ANY pot, and never ever dry cook a pot. Even Ti doesn't like this (I have a $100 Ti pot from MSR I wrecked on the first use when it cooked dry and warped horribly). Also, don't leave acidic foods in any pot. Cleanup when done.

You have way more things to worry about than the 1 to 20 or so nights the average backpacker puts in. Boil your water, enjoy dinner and don't think about the carbon footprint one's car belches all the way home…..

[monkey]

"Also, don't leave acidic foods in any pot."

Could be hard to conform, if one enjoys a cup of hot honey and lemon. Our stainless steel thermos got binned very promptly the first time I tried to make a brew, the metallic taste was unbelievable. Never a problem with the Ti double wall, yet another reason for using the material.

And this logic – "we've already got too many things going wrong, why not have one more" is bewildering. By all means if you already have aluminum cookware or don't have free funds to buy ti or you prefer the way aluminum conducts heat etc, this may be a sufficient reason for sticking with it after all it is not going to kill you (at least not straight away). It just doesn't follow that aluminum is totally "fine" health-wise that's all.

[Stuart R]

"Aluminium in the food supply comes from natural sources including water, food additives, and contamination by aluminium utensils and containers. Most unprocessed foods, except for certain herbs and tea leaves, contain low (< 5 micrograms Al/g) levels of aluminium. Thus most adults consume 1-10 mg aluminium daily from natural sources. Cooking in aluminium containers often results in statistically significant, but not practically important, increases in the aluminium content of foods. Intake of aluminium from food additives varies greatly (0 to 95 mg Al daily) among residents in North America, with the median intake for adults being about 24 mg daily. Generally, the intake of aluminium from foods is less than 1% of that consumed by individuals using aluminium-containing pharmaceuticals. Currently the real scientific question is not the amount of aluminium in foods but the availability of the aluminium in foods and the sensitivity of some population groups to aluminium. Several dietary factors, including citrate, may affect the absorption of aluminium."

Source: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1490425

So, you could worry about aluminium intake if you consume aluminium-containing pharmaceuticals (but you may also have an illness to worry more about).
If not, you may worry about aluminium intake of you consume baked products, fizzy drinks or many other processed foods.
Otherwise, there is an almost endless list of other more threatening risks to worry about.
Or you could just go hiking and not worry at all.

[monkey]

"Statistically significant" is good enough reason for me (YMMV) to choose an easy alternative that does NOT result in said increases, whatever their currently believed practical importance. I can go hiking and not worry at all? Surely I can – and do, taking my ti pot along. You are not trying to imply that such is impossible without aluminum?

[James Marco]

Actually, there is aluminum in the ti alloys used for pots and utensils. There is aluminum in dust. There is aluminum in most everything you touch and breath.

[Richard May]

Considering that ""Aluminium is the third most abundant element (after oxygen and silicon), and the most abundant metal in the Earth's crust." and that it is found just about everywhere including breast milk I think there would be a lot of cases of aluminum poisoning. As it is we are exposed to quite a bit of it every single day.

[Pedestrian]

>> There is aluminum in most everything you touch….

Now you tell me!!!

OMG have you heard? There's Nitrogen (yikes!!!!!) in the air we breathe….
we're ALL going to DIE!

[monkey]

> we're ALL going to DIE!

Bless, indeed we ARE – didn't you know? Hope it wasn't too of a shock…

:o

[Bill Segraves]

The Snow Peak Trek 900 worked pretty well and gave me the increased size I needed. I drilled holes for use with a bail handle over twig fires, and it works well on an Esbit stove. Still not sure what I'll really do with the frypan/lid. It was pretty small for use as a bowl. Thanks to all for your ideas! Cheers, Bill S.

[Roger Caffin]

> OMG have you heard? There's Nitrogen (yikes!!!!!) in the air we breathe…. > we're ALL going to DIE! Not to mention that incredibly dangerous chemical dihydrogen monoxide, which has been linked with so many deaths every year. People have collapsed and died from an overdose taken during simple things like marathons. Or it's associated chemical analog oxygen dihydride, which is equally toxic according to the immersion morbidity figures. Cheers

[Bob Moulder]

There have been petition signature drives to Ban Dihydrogen Monoxide!!

[Jon Fong / Flat Cat Gear]

At least every year there is a teenager that has ingested excessive dihydrogen monoxide with the goal of getting high. Hyponatremia is such a sad way to go.

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