Esbit Corrosive?

I have had no problems and I have been using them for years. You will get a little build-up, but I just scrape it off with a plastic knife and put it in the dishwasher. I do use a titanium pot though – I never got into the cans.

Enjoy,

Dave

But, its very easy to clean off the bottom of your pot. You can rub it in the dirt or just pour water on it and it dissolves. I guess you could ask Rand @ Trail Designs. He'd know for sure or not.

Rubbing the pot on grass works for me

I use a caldera cone/fosters set up with no corrosive issues. I think the smoke when you blow a partially burned esbit might corrode your lungs though.:-) If you clean off your pot in grass, sand and/or water right after you use it the gunk comes off easily. If you wait awhile it gets harder to remove.
I've been using a shaped piece of foil as an esbit extinguisher. Does anyone have a suggestion for something better?

Don

"I've been using a shaped piece of foil as an esbit extinguisher. Does anyone have a suggestion for something better? "

Just blow it out. Weighs nothing.

You can coat your pot with soap from a wet bar of soap and let it dry. When the ESBIT builds up on it it will wash off (50 yds. from a stream/lake) easily. Then just re-coat.

Or, as mentioned, wipe it off on grass where nobody is likely to walk or sit.

I've found using ESBIT of FireLite fuel tabs with my CC ti Sidewinder is much more efficient than with my previous Vargo Triad & MSR windscreen setup. I use at least 1/3 less fuel. Trail Designs has an amazing product in that stove, esp. with the Inferno wood burner insert.

I’ve never seen, heard, or experienced anything that would indicate that hexamine fuel (such as ESBIT) is corrosive or would in any way damage a pot. As others have said, it can leave a brown, sticky residue, but it actually comes off pretty easily. I usually store my pot inside a Ziploc. If there is any residue left on the pot, the Ziploc will keep the residue from getting on other things in my pack.

HJ
Adventures in Stoving

Up until now, all of the Esbit fuel that I have ever seen came in a red box, the brand is Esbit, and it was made in Germany. Esbit says 12-15 minute burn time per cube.

Today I was at the store to buy more. Blue box, the brand is Bleuet, and it is made in China. Bleuet says approximately 15 minutes burn time per cube.

I have to believe that it is 99% the same stuff, hexamethylenenetetramine. (say that ten times rapidly)

Am I missing anything?

–B.G.–

Thanks Ken–I do like the weightless aspect of simply blowing out esbit, it's the cloud of smoke I'd like to avoid (and also the complaints from fellow backpackers). I guess I'll have to suffer the weight of the foil snuffer for now.:-)

Don

Bob Gross said > Up until now, all of the Esbit fuel that I have ever seen came in a red box, the brand is Esbit, and it was made in Germany. Esbit says 12-15 minute burn time per cube.

Today I was at the store to buy more. Blue box, the brand is Bleuet, and it is made in China. Bleuet says approximately 15 minutes burn time per cube.

I have to believe that it is 99% the same stuff, hexamethylenenetetramine. (say that ten times rapidly)

Am I missing anything?

Interesting. The main brands of hexamethylenenetetramine (hexamine for short) that I’ve seen are Stansport, ESBIT (Erich Schumms Brennstoff in Tablettenform), and Coghlans although there are some brands marketed to model train enthusiasts.

The different brands do differ in terms of their product. Hexamine tablets aren’t pure hexamine. Different things are used to bind the hexamine together. And quality control can be an issue as it is with any product. I’ve noticed that ESBIT produces more residue but is easier to clean off than some of the other brands. Coghlans is typically the cheapest though.

The only way to find out if the Bleuet (you sure it’s not Bluet?) brand is any good is to try it. What store were you in by the way?

HJ
Adventures in Stoving

"The only way to find out if the Bleuet (you sure it's not Bluet?) brand is any good is to try it. What store were you in by the way?"

BLEUET brand.

I've had good use out of Esbit brand and so-so out of Stansport and Coghlans.

The only reason that I purchased this blue box of Bleuet is that it was the only brand in the store. The store was a small mom&pop outdoor gear store called the Redwood Trading Post.

Interesting: I just opened up the box, and the cubes are shaped and packaged exactly the same as Esbit, except for one thing. The cubes are not white. They are pink!

What's up with that? It must be some marketing thing.

Edit:
Check out the MSDS on that stuff. It's not joyful.

–B.G.–

ESBIT (or any other brand of hexamine for that matter) releases formaldehyde, ammonia, carbon oxides, hydrogen cyanide, and nitrogen oxides when burned. Isn’t that special?

HJ
Adventures in Stoving

"Isn't that special?"

I've always found the _unburnt_ odor to be fishy, but I've never tried to stay that close to the burning gases.

Fortunately, I use it only in summer when there is plenty of ventilation.

It almost makes me want to sneak back to white gas (if the stoves weren't so heavy).

–B.G.–

Bob Gross said: > I’ve had good use out of Esbit brand and so-so out of Stansport and Coghlans.

That’s pretty much my experience as well. ESBIT seems to be the better brand, but Stansport and Coghlans will do.

Let us know how the Bleuet brand works.

HJ
Adventures in Stoving

EDIT: Interesting that they chose a French brand name for a Chinese product, the same name as the old Camping Gaz stoves from the 70’s.

Interesting, indeed.

Currently just about any successful trade name in the Western Hemisphere will be purchased or else stolen for use by some wannabe successful Chinese manufacturer.

In this case, the proof is in the burning.

–B.G.–

I've started dabbling in solid fuel tablets recently. I ended up purchasing a cheapo fold-out "tin-stove" on REI-outlet that came w/ 6 Bleuet tabs for like $3. The couple times I've used them, the boils seemed to take quite a while though… like 15-16 min in my Fosters can w/ myog cald-clone and the cube burned another 2-3 min after. I just got some actual ESBIT the other day and did a little burn w/ a different setup (basic wire pot stand & alum wind screen, cube was basically sitting on a piece of aluminum), but the cube burned itself out in only ~8-9 min!

I suppose the big question is… does anyone else have experience w/ the Bleuet cubes at this point to say if they're crappy or not? And what might have caused the seemingly very fast burn time for the ESBIT? Does ESBIT burn hotter than other tabs?

A tip I learned from John Abela at last year's GGG in NorCal is to coat the bottom and lower sides of your pot/can with a few drops of Dr. Bronner's soap (whatever flavor you like) before you use it with Esbits. Then the residue cleans off easily with water after each use.

Just like the bar of soap idea, but something small that you can carry with on the trail.

Also multi-use, since Dr. Bronner's can be used to wash up, brush your teeth, wash a spot from your clothes, etc.

Bob, I have used trioxane fuel tabs purchased form a local Army surplus store. They were purple and crumbled easily. They didn't burn as well as Esbit but were cheaper and I wanted to try them out.

Ryan,

It's a long thread…

http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/forums/thread_display.html?forum_thread_id=68338&disable_pagination=1

…so scroll down about 2/3 rds of the page after clicking on "view all".

Party On,

Newton ;-)

"I have used trioxane fuel tabs purchased form a local Army surplus store. They were purple and crumbled easily. They didn't burn as well as Esbit but were cheaper and I wanted to try them out."

I was using those over forty years ago when employed by the federal government. They are not as good as Esbit, but they are better than nothing. The fumes are nasty, but it is an acquired taste.

–B.G.–