Ti cup question

I am interested in a SnowPeak ti mini solo cookpot with cup. The only thing stopping me is that I have a SnowPeak ti 300 single wall cup and the sides get so hot when hot water is in it they burn my lips. If I wait until the sides cool down my tea is cool and not hot.

I have read several reviews on the ti mini solo set and no one mentioned this issue with this cookset. I am wondering if anyone has this set and can comment on this issue.

Might anyone have this set they want to part with?

A silicon bracelet (with or without cause printed on it) makes a dandy lip guard. I have one on my Fosters pot. Don't know if they will fit your ti cup, depends on the diameter.

Well, Since I'm an Infidel (non-believer) when it comes to Ti cookware I'll recommend anodized aluminum for a cook pot and a PLASTIC cup W/ measuring marks inside for drionking. Problem solved. Drinks stay hot, lips stay unburned.

Eric

What's your aluminum pot of choice? Also not believing in Titanium, I'm having a hard time finding a good ultralight solo pot. I'd like to go to the Heine pot but my stove isn't compatible. Maybe it's time to build a new stove.

I've had the same problem with titanium, including the mini-solo kit's cup. (By the way, I always found the cup to be too small for much of anything except measuring or using as a bowl for morning oatmeal; I'd prepare my tea in the taller pot - and it would be cool by the time I drank it.)

My solution was to quit drinking hot beverages, and just drink water. That made the Trek 700 pot an adequate kitchen. It also saved the weight of the tea bags and cocoa mix.

About a year ago, I started moving away from titanium cookware; I missed my tea. I decided to "spend" a half pound of weight and begin using a JetBoil stove. It was heavier on weekends, but fuel efficiency made it break-even for longer trips (one fuel cylinder instead of two.) I can have a hot beverage, and drink from the plastic cup, or I can have a full pot of tea; the plastic lid for the pot eliminates contact between lips and metal, so it's possible to drink while it's still warm. The pot cozy keeps the tea hot all through the meal. My usual routine is to heat a full pot of water, using some to make oatmeal in the cup and the rest to make tea in the pot. For evening meals, I usually cook a freezed-dried meal in the pot and have cocoa for dessert. However, I suppose I could cook the food in the bag, eat from the bag (or spoon out a small cupful at a time), and have another pot of tea. (I don't like cooking in the bag because it leaves me with a messy, wet piece of trash.)

Another option, if you're willing to carry the 10 or so ounces, is the GSI Pinnacle cook set. It has an aluminum pot and lid, a large bowl (with cozy) that converts to sippy-cup mode if you put the pot lid on it, and collapsible spoon; everything stores in a coated-nylon stuff sack that doubles as a sink. As a bonus, a small canister stove and fuel canister store inside. It's also a lot cheaper than titanium.

If every ounce matters, titanium is the way to go. If you're willing to carry a little weight, the aluminum options make more sense.

I have the Mini Solo and don't really like it that much.

I use an IMUSA grease pot with a wire lid handle rather than the OEM knob for the top: 3.6 oz and 3.6 cup capacity. I also installed a wire hanging bail for cooking over fires. I use a GSI Cascadian 12 fl oz plastic cup for hot liquids: 1.6 oz with handle removed and it has measuring marks inside in 1/2 cup increments. No "hot lips". Together, the grease pot and the GSI cup weigh a bit less than the Mini Solo. I got my IMUSA grease pot at WalMart in the cooking accessories section. They are made in Columbia and are favored by Latino customers so may not be available in all WalMart's. If you want to try one and can't find it locally, PM me and I'll pick one up for you and mail it. They cost about $4 plus about $3 shipping.

The set Glenn is referring to is the GSI Soloist. They added the Pinnacle part in the 2009 version, when they did a revamp. They added a non stick lining and made the cup/mug out of a new material that is more see through. The pot itself is hard anodized aluminum The mug/cup cozy is neoprene.
And price wise it is a bargain.

It is my go-to set and has been since the 2008 version! Otherwise if I am going light/solo I grab my GSI Halulite tea kettle, which is around $20 for a 5 ounce pot that holds a quart.

Thanks, sarbar. I didn't realize that there was an earlier version of it - I just noticed it this year on REI's website.

The Jetboil is still my go-to set, though I've used the Soloist once or twice with my alcohol stove (Clikstand with a Trangia burner.) I really liked it, and the two together make a really nice, though somewhat heavy, kitchen. I may eventually order a small canister stove, and let it replace the Jetboil. The heavy part of the Clikstand is the Trangia burner - replace it with something else, and you save several ounces. However, I really like my Trangia because you just fill it and go - no measuring fuel, just put the lid back on. The convenience is worth the weight.

One other advantage the Soloist gives me is that I can use the stuff sack/bucket to replace the nylon bowl I carry anyhow. I like to dip water, carry it to a comfy rock or log, and sit down while I filter. I haven't missed at all perching precariously with my right leg on a teetering, moss-covered rock while my left leg is on the log, all the while trying to keep the end of the hose from drifting over to rest on the sand in that little eddy.

I'll note that I've found just the opposite: especially compared to aluminum, Ti cups seem to stay quite cool at the rim when holding hot drinks. [edited for less confoozun in my original ritin'] Ti can still get hot at the rim when the liquid level is quite close to the top, so I'm wondering whether you can resolve this by using a larger cup and/or not filling this one as full?

I do keep a neoprene sleeve around mine to keep drinks hot longer, and of course that protects my fingers too.

Cheers,

Hi
Like Rick,
I have no problemo with my ti cup. As rick points out - sort of - ti is not that good of a conductor. Now to really get hot lips, use a thick stainless steel cup. However plastic works well, is durable and a good insulator. I have a thin neoprene "COKE" jacket around it. Often though I heat my water in my .6Liter ti pan, stir in my coffee and drink from the pan.
Jim YMMV

Re the grease pot: Similar grease pots are available at KMart in the kitchen accessories section. The lip of the pot turns outward (unlike the older WallyWorld pots--I haven't seen recent pots from the latter). About $5 and 4 oz.

Recently I only take my MSR Titan Kettle. It's my cup, plate and pot. I usually only fill it one third to one half full so the water level is not so close to the rim. When I take it off the stove the thin metal of the rim cools pretty fast while the water stays hot. No burned lips for me these days.

But I've been there

I have that set but never did like it. The pot is narrow and high so it takes a long time to boil compared to a shorter and wider pot. I don't like any single wall cups be them in ti, al or steel.

The best cup I have found is the Snowpeak 450 ml double wall ti cup. It keeps your food or drink hot but will not burn your hands or lips, perfect outdoor cup. You can't cook in a double wall cup though. For cooking I like the MSR Titan kettle with its tight fitting lid. It has a nice profile and it does conduct heat very well owed to its thin walls. Once I wanted to photograph my kettle with a little wood fire. I lit the fire and before I could get my camera on the tripod that water came to the boil.

I just bought one of these and I am extremely impressed with the pinnacle cook set. As others have said this is worth investigating if you are not concerned about saving every little bit of weight.

Cheers,
Michael.
P.S. BTW include me in the Titanium non-believer camp please.

I'm moving away from titanium cookware preferring hard anodized aluminum without the non-stick coating. My set is the Brunton IB, comes with 1.0L and .8L pots with ml markings. A lid that fits inside the pot rim and has strainer holes. Weighs 9.4oz. It can be used in a double-boiler setup also. My BushBuddy wood stove fits perfectly inside with a Trangia spirit burner inside the BB.

b.gin

Why not just take an extra paper or styrafoam coffee cup (probably less than one ounce) make drinks in this, while boiling water and cooking in the titanimum solo pot? Get one that nests into the solo pot so it will not get crushed in your pack.

My titanium cup is hot too. However, when it is too hot to touch, I probably should not even be drinking something that hot. Once a drinkable temperature- it does cool quickly - probably a cup cozy would help this.

Carefully handled a Starbucks tall cup will last all weekend Lets just say someone left her mug at home once

I think we all "have a friend who..."

A cozy does help. I normally use the Anti Gravity Gear 3 cup (aluminum) pot, with a cozy. I drink coffee or tea out of it all the time, but I always slap it into the cozy, then I find that I can let it cool a bit and drink just fine out of it without the problem of having the stuff inside too cold. But I do also bring a cheapo plastic cup - a cheap
1 cup measuring cup type thing from an old camping set with the handle cut off. My alky stove just fits inside it and it
fits in my pot.

Glenn,

I use a 1.5 L. JetBoil pot - minus the steel wire handles. An aluminum pot gripper works & is lighter. Yeah, there are lighter, smaller pots for sure but THIS pot is extremely fuel efficient.

When I use my Vargo Triad XE ti stove, base only, with ESBIT or FireLite fuel tabs that JetBoil "Flux Ring" efficiency means a lot. I use 2 tabs at a time & burn the leftover partial tabs the next meal with one new tab.

Eric

Thanks all for your comments. I am leaning towards taking the GSI Soloist that is only 1 ounce heavier than my Titan kettle and double walled SP cup. Another plus for the Soloist is that the fuel canister, stove, and the Soloist cup and lid all fit together taking up less space in the pack.

I guess I saved myself some money and will not be getting a SP Mini Solo kit.

AS I said in my PM to you I use the JetBoil 1.5L. aluminum pot, minus the steel wire handles and their steel mounting plate. This pot's wider base heats faster, as do all wider based pots. The corrugated "Flux Ring" heat exchanger on the base, which is the heart of the JetBoil system, is great for saving fuel, as is the neoprene & cloth side cozy. Haven't found anything better yet.

A few oz. more for faster cooking and fuel savings is worth it. I've cut out the center of the plastic Flux Ring cover to save more weight and still keep the corrugated ring protected.

Also I bought another neoprene cozy as the original gets gradually more degraded when my ESBIT/FireLite fuel tabs' flames sometimes lick the sides of the cozy. I use fuel tabs instead of canister stoves when I know the trip requires I lighten up as much as possible, as say, in the Grand Canyon, where it seems you're hardly ever on the flats.

In winter I have to remove the cozy when I use the aluminized fiberglass baking hood with my Dragonfly stove. Just too much heat is captured by that Backpacker's Pantry Outback Oven hood. But boy does it ever save fuel. I have to leave the MSR windscreen open 6" to keep heat under control for baking.

Eric

That's an interesting setup you have there. Is it possible (and safe) to use alcohol fuel in the Triad instead using the same setup with the Jetboil pot w/Flux ring.

What kind of boil times do you get?

I have a Snow Peak 700. I never had the problem of burning lips because the cup cools down almost instantaneously coming off the stove/fire. However, the liquid inside did cool down fairly quickly. So I bought a GSI plastic cup with neoprene on it at REI, the one with a sippy lid. Its perfect. It fits inside the Ti pot along with my stove.

I am working on a pot cozy for the Peak 700. After a successful pot cozy I can eliminate the GSI cup for more space inside the pot to store more things.

Need some Reflectix? Send me a PM. I got a lot of it left over from a home project. It makes great cozy's.