questions about esbit

my experience is they are not as good, but they are a nice trade off. small things make a big difference. finding a spot out of the wind, making a small wind screen out of aluminum foil, etc…however, they do the job for boiling water. takes longer, but in the wild we usually have a lot of time.

they are also great fire starters for emergency.

I bought a Caldera Ti-Tri so I could try out all three (wood/alcohol/esbit) with one purchase! I've been going more and more with esbit, and I think the Caldera is a great way to do it. Light as heck, great windscreen, nice esbit "graham cracker" stove, efficient enough for me! Like you, all I do is boil water for a meal and some drink (coffee/hot cocoa/etc). Seems about half a tab gets the job done (a bit more now that it's cold). You will get a bit of soot on the bottom of your pot (none with alcohol, lots with wood), but nothing major. I haven't carried alcohol in a while now.

I love my caldera gvp.
Easy to use and it's fast enough. I used it at a semi alpin hike for 2 people 2 months ago and it did it's job very well.

You only have to get used to the fishy smell and get a good windscreen for your burning esbit.

My experience (which differences from some people) is that I couldn't get 2 cups of water to boil using esbits in the vendor supplied stove (the folding one or the emergency one)… so I would advise using a more efficient stove if you want to place with esbits. I have had very good luck with gramcracker stove with a the caldera cone (UL – short one, or full size). Other people have had good luck with the commercial or DIY beercan esbits.

One esbits tablet easily brings 16oz of water to a rolling boil in around 8 minutes using a 15gram (.5oz) tablet. The Snowpeak/MSR canister stoves are a bit more fuel efficent but a esbits stove is overall lighter because you don't have to drag your fuel in an pressurized aluminum canister.

–mark

I have been playing with different combos of cooking vessels and stoves. For long dayhikes I have assembled a GSI Glacier stainless cup/pot (about five or six bucks), a couple cubes of esbit, and a couple of cat food cans. The water (about 18 oz) comes to a boil on half an esbit tab. One cat food can is a poor attempt at a different hole pattern for a Supercat stove – I just added more holes until the esbit burned well enough. That's the pot stand, as the cup does not sit well on the little folding stove that comes with esbit. The other larger cat food can is the snuffer. Esbit leaves a little residue, and you're supposed to use an inflammable surface to burn it. I take a square of foil for a pot lid. That and my collection of tea bags don't weigh a lot, don't take a lot of space in the pack, and it's pretty nice to have a random cup of tea when you want it.

"love my caldera gvp."
(+1)
Been using esbit in the Gossamer Gear Caldera GVP Keg for a while now; easy to measure; no worry of spilling alcohol; no extra container…it does have a less than pleasant smell, but the trade of in my opinion is worth it.

Hmmm. The weight savings and simplicity are very tempting for me, but… I don't think I'd be down with the brown sticky goo that forms on the bottom of my cooking pot that everyone seems to talk about. I think as a different option, I'll experiment a little with my homemade alcohol stove instead. The HEET that I use with it doesn't leave anything on my cookware.

I didn't notice anything on the pot. Just in the bottom of the can/pot stand. That's okay by me, when it's too gunked up my cat gets another can of nummie and I get a new pot stand.

The esbit residue is easily removed by rubbing with sand/gravel and water; I simply bring a half dollar size piece of brillo pad which removes it easily.

The last time I used esbit tablets was in my usgi canteen cup stove. The temperature was in the 60's with only a little wind. Three tablets would not get a cup of water to boil. I ended up sliding some small sticks into the opening on the side of the stove. Then I had to blow into it to get the fire hot enough to boil the water.

All my other expierences with esbit tablets were about the same. They would heat water up enough to rehydrate a meal or make coffee or cocoa but never to a boil. So I guess if you treated or filtered water first I guess esbit tablets would be okay.

Hi Justin,
Esbit is one of those things that you have to try to truly know how well it works. I'll only let you in on this…after years of trying canisters, alcohol, and solid fuel stoves, my "go to" setup is an esbit stove. If used properly, "IMO" you will find this to be the lightest and most efficient option. Now go…buy some esbit!

"If used properly, "IMO" you will find this to be the lightest and most efficient option."

(+)1
I agree, with the Gossamer Gear Caldera GVP Keg, I get approximately two boils (2 cups of water each) per 1 tablet of esbit…

"The weight savings and simplicity are very tempting for me, but… I don't think I'd be down with the brown sticky goo that forms on the bottom of my cooking pot that everyone seems to talk about."

I've never gotten any brown sticky goo. Just a bit of dry black ash, for lack of a better term. Nothing sticky about it. And as other posters have said, it's quite easily removed by rubbing it on the sandy ground. The silnylon sack I keep my pot it has no residue inside it at all.

And I bring about a cup and a half of water to a boil with less than one tab. FWIW

"I've never gotten any brown sticky goo. Just a bit of dry black ash, for lack of a better term. Nothing sticky about it. "

I use Esbit, but unlike Douglas, I DO get sticky gunk on the pot. It does come off using his process, but it's messy before cleaning.

I'm going to take out the Ti-Tri with the Gram Cracker and the 12-10 Alcohol stove this weekend, and try them (so far only used the Inferno wood stove, which is awesome). I've used Esbit previously and don't remember if there was any residue, so I suggest trying it out oneself. Can't be too bad, though, nothing that some sand and water won't get off.

"If used properly, "IMO" you will find this to be the lightest and most efficient option."

This surprised me, but I've also found it to be true. A friend asked me for the weight of my stove setup for a weekend trip. So I broke it all out — what I'd bring for either alcohol, wood or esbit only. I thought the wood setup would be the lightest since I wasn't carrying any fuel, but it wasn't (since I do carry the wood burning insert when using wood). Esbit came out the lightest by a few ounces. Without the wood burning insert the wood would have won, but not by much. So now, even if I'm planning on wood, I always bring a couple of esbit tabs as a backup.

I recently bought one of the little wetfire stoves- comes w/ a wetfire tinder, but a esbit cube fits perfectly- the stove weighs a scant 13 grams, when folded about the size of a mini bic lighter.

I've got some Ti foil on the way and am going to build a windscreen that will nest in my SP 600- I'm going to get it wrap so it's very close to the pot- along w/ some perforations on the bottom for ventilation I'm going to drill a couple of holes higher in the hopes I can slide two stakes in to support the pot and have a make shift wood stove. I'm going to cut a small piece for under the stove- it may help help reflect heat when using esbit and shuld be handy when using it w/ wood

if I can a boil (or like some approaching two) per cube it should be a efficient (light) way to go

also check the wetfire stove thread, we may be getting a peek at esbit vs wetfire tinder efficiency (the wetfire clearly lights easier, but may be less efficient ???)

"love my caldera gvp."
(+2)
Been using esbit in the Gossamer Gear Caldera GVP Keg for a while now; easy to measure; no worry of spilling alcohol; no extra container…it does have a less than pleasant smell, but the trade of in my opinion is worth it.

Gossamer Gear Caldera GVP Keg lightest and best system I have used yet! Happy camper!

When my wife and I go backpacking we use a caldera cone with a sul 1100 and a gram cracker esbit stove. At aprx sea level (MN) we use about 2 tabs per pot. At 9500-10500 ft we use 1 1/2 tabs per pot and slightly less above 11000 ft. We only boil water and cook FBC style. Yes it leaves some residue
and is slower than a cannister but it is quiet, can't spill and is really light. I love the setup.

When my wife and I go backpacking we use a caldera cone with a sul 1100 and a gram cracker esbit stove. At aprx sea level (MN) we use about 2 tabs per pot. At 9500-10500 ft we use 1 1/2 tabs per pot and slightly less above 11000 ft.

You use less fuel as you gain altitude? Hunh? I wonder why that would be.

    You use less fuel as you gain altitude? Hunh? I wonder why that would be.

The boiling point of water lowers the higher you go in altitude.

Rand

"You use less fuel as you gain altitude? Hunh? I wonder why that would be."

Water boils at a lower temperature as altitude increases.

Oh, duh. Frickin' Einstein I am. lol.

"Oh, duh. Frickin' Einstein I am. lol."

Even a blind squirrel finds a nut occasionally. ;}