A "base camp" gear warning

When I’ve used my BioLite, the fan did seem to help a bit.  Not as much as having twice the stove height, but some.  My bigger complaint about it was how small I had to cut the wood.  And that you needed to keep feeding fabulous quality firewood (small blocks of kiln-dried hardwood) to maintain the USB output current.

On the basis of weight, cost, and reliability, I’d suggest a charcoal-lighting chimney:

$12 to $18, takes much larger pieces of wood than a BioLite and puts out some serious heat out the top if you want to cook on it.  I’ll bring one on boat or car-camping trips if there are 2-3 people along.  2-3 people can sit around it on chairs as it puts off enough heat for that and is much less smoky than an open fire.  It’s too heavy for UL backpacking outside of possible basecamp use, but maybe someone could do a titanium version that rolled up for transport.

If you are going to use one for cooking, bring two short pieces of re-bar (car camping) or chop a cheap set of SS tongs into a big “U” to hold the pot off the top of the chimney.  Or notch the top of the chimney like the crenellations (vocabulary word of the week!) along the top of a castle.

My experience with the Biolite stove does not match yours. I’ve used mine for years, burning everything from twigs, small broken pine cones to the wood pellets that Biolite sells. Emits very little smoke, unless you’re burning damp wood. I’ve recommended them to several folks who’ve also enjoyed using them.

Just for fun, here are pictures of the original Sierra Zip stove, the first I know of to use a fan.  You put twigs, cones, needles, whatever in the cup, lit it, and turned on the fan (one AA battery).  The fuel burned bright and hot, but quickly, so you had to keep putting more fuel in.

I never used it on the trail, only in my garage for nostalgia’s sake.

Guys, I’m talking about the BioLite FIRE PIT/grill. It’s long and heavy and will not charge its battery with heat from the fire. You charge it with the included USB cord.

Anyway, it smokes like an ordinary fire pit so why should I pay so much money for that?

I found the BioLite to be very overhyped.  Maybe I just got two duds and third would have worked a treat, but I lost interest and patience.

Being that your location has you in the Mojave Desert, perhaps your smoke issue has to do with burning mesquite or chaparral or other oily plants. Maybe there is less smoke burning old dead dried up sticks of pine and fir.

Humans have been using fire for 400,000 years and all of sudden we need electric powered devices for a fire. Darwin rolls his eyes….