Titanium cups/mugs

I'm on the verge of buying a titanium mug and am curious if those who have a single-walled version wish they'd bought the double-wall variety? -not due to weight, but heat. If cost wasn't an issue, I'd get the double-wall model but the wife thinks the price tag on even the single wall model is absurd for a small metal cup...

There is no comparison. I have had single wall but quickly moved on to double wall exclusively and would never even think of using a single wall cup again. A double wall cup guards against burning your lips and keeps the food or drink hot in cold weather conditions. A single wall does neither. Snow Peak is one of the higher quality offerings when it comes to outdoor serving wares in titanium. It is expensive but when you add it up over time, the performance it gives and the fact that it will last forever if you don’t loose it is one of the best choices. You can’t cook in double wall vessels and that kills it for some of the more obsessive but it is the only choice for enjoying hot food and drink in my opinion.

Our spartan kit contains an MSR ti kettle for boiling, each has their Snow Peak double wall cup for both food and drink and the Snowpeak ti spoon. The flatware kit came with a fork and spreading knife as well but I normally use the spoon in the backcountry. This stuff has lasted for years and will last as long as we walk the wilderness. Buy the best once and only cry once.

Not sure if double wall makes sense to me.
The main advantage of Titanium over Polypropylene is that you can use them in emergency as a pot.
You cannot do that with a double wall mug.
On the downside ( of the single wall Ti)is that you could burn your lips if the drink is too hot .
Comparing weights a GSI insulated 500ml mug is about 1 oz lighter than a 450ml double wall Ti. Witch one will keep your drinks hot for longer I do not know but the GSI Infinity Insulated Mug works for me (making soup for example), is lighter and cheaper than the Ti equivalent.
Franco
Sea 2Summit have something similar out now, the Delta, but about the same weight as the Ti doble wall.
Afterthoughts...
If you are really fussy about taste, you can detect some "plastic" taste with Polypropylene however some have reported "bad taste" from Titanium as well. I have not noticed that from my 550ml Ti mug but I am not that fussy.
( "pure" Titanium is inert, however none of the Ti cookware is made from pure Ti)

-appreciate the input, thanks.

Save your money and buy an Antigravity insulated mug:

http://www.antigravitygear.com/proddetail.php?prod=AGCZZPMG

Lighter, cheaper to buy (and replace), better insulated....did i say lighter?

If you do go with titanium, get a single wall so you can cook in it. That makes it multi-purpose. Single wall titanium will burn your lips, but will also cool quicker. Make a cozy yourself out of Reflectix and it is just as good or better insulated than a double wall (lighter, too). This is a light-weight forum,remember, guys ?

BF

I own both but carry a single-wall with a neoprene wrap (not a full cozy). So long as the thing's not full to the brim the rim will absolutely not burn my lips (Ti heat transmission is very poor, an order of magnitude less than that of aluminum). The double-wall is rather heavier and as noted, cannot be cooked in, in a pinch.

My $0.02

That's another incredible photo of the snow peak cup, BTW. Do the double-walls have a vacuum inside for better insulation?

If it does the only one I've ever tried in serious cold weather leaked. - because it sure didn't stay warm very long - (I just use a double wall plastic mug in cold weather, lighter and cheaper - dunno about more durable, my MEC cold weather mug is at least 8 or 9 years old, and my little skanky plastic cup I carry other times is so old I don't even know how old. it was scavenged from a dead scouting kit something like 25 years ago and is still going strong with me..

Bigfoot has seen the little skanky plastic cup so he knows what I'm talking about - my alcohol stove rides in it.

Since my cup is usually also my cook pot single wall is my only option. As noted above, cooking with a double wall is not recommended.

The thin wall and low mass of the single wall allows it to cool quickly if you keep the liquid level well below the rim. Burned lips are really not an issue for me.

phat:



I'm not sure I'd be sipping anything out of a cup I'm describing as "skanky," unless I was plastering on that new Acyclovir-enhanced lip balm from Burt's (free-)Bees.

Thankee sir. I love my time out in the deserts and spend a lot of it photographing.

I can't answer your question on the vacuum but a Snow Peak double wall cup will keep the food and drink very hot for a long time, for sure long enough to eat or drink leisurely. Now remember, cold to me is down in the 20s F, not what Phat calls cold though I have hiked in his stuff from time to time. LOL

Seriously, there are lots of ways to skin a cat so to speak. Lot of folks have a system that works for them. I have two single wall ti cups and two double wall ti cups, hence the answer to the OP's question from my own experience with them all. The single walls are a 450 ml Evernew and a 600 ml Snowpeak. The doubles are a 450 and 600 Snowpeak. I think it was someone on this forum, a kind soul on the road sent me that Evernew cup a few years ago, and I did not even ask for it.

I too often drink out of my pot. I take the little cup just for measuring, scooping, and being able to have something in the pot while drinking something else, and since the little plastic cup weighs darn near nothing (I should put it on the gram scale) I take it anyway..

the real short answer is - FBC egg and taters -> coffee in pot, drunk from pot.. Oatmeal in pot -> coffee in cup, drunk from cup

It's old and well used, stained from too much coffee, and often scrubbed out with sand... Got a better adjective?

A 450-mil double-walled Snow Peak will nest inside the Snow Peak mini solo pot, with room for the stove and a few extras (but you'll have to stash the fuel cylinder somewhere else). I like to have my coffee while dinner is cooking and still warm after I'm finished.

Somewhere, maybe on another forum...someone had a post that they found the disposible coffee lids from the local Kwik-E-Mart would fit on top of a SP double-walled mug. Nice.....

Jason Klass is selling lids. We could support one of our own.

http://www.geartalkwithjasonklass.com/

I use a 1 L. aluminum pot & lid and a PLASTIC drinking cup W/ graduated markings (for measuring)

WHY would I carry a Ti cup, single OR double walled??

Yes, a single wall large Ti cup can be use for "cooking" (i.e. boiling water but not true cooking) but not so for a double walled cup. Very inefficient.

To me the Ti cup thing is the current version of the stainless steel "Sierra Cup" of the '60s. Neither makes much practical sense. But, hey, they look cool.

I have a Ti mug (MSR Titan Cup), but it's mostly due to mild obsessive-compulsive tendencies: it goes with my Titan Kettle. I think I might have taken it with me once, when I first got it, and had cocoa with breakfast. After that, it rarely went with me partly because the mug caused packing problems (couldn't get both it and the Pocket Rocket to store in the Kettle.) The main reason, though, was that I could do everything I needed to do with the kettle alone.

Up until recently, I drank water with my meals, and maybe fixed a kettle of tea with my no-cook lunch or breakfast (or for an evening snack.) Now, I'm learning to cook in the bag for breakfast (oatmeal) and supper (Enertia entree), which lets me brew up a kettle of tea while the food "cooks."

I agree, mugs are mostly redundant nowadays.

That AGG mug looks suspiciously like the ziploc container I fitted with Reflectix. Probably cost me a buck to make, given I already had epoxy to glue the lid to the insulation. I left the cozy for the bottom unglued to remove for easier washing.

scruffy?

Actually, at first I thought you said you got it from a dead scout . . . instead of "it was scavenged from a dead scouting kit." Wondered what the poor scout had done.

Ooops, I was reading the post too quickly trying to catch up on the last several weeks. Gonna have to give up and click "mark all read" pretty soon . . .

I'm with 300winmag on this. Ti pot and plastic measuring cup for hot drinks (especially when I'm traveling with a group and have to share my cooking pot). I just checked the specs and the $2.00 plastic cup from REI is 2.5oz whereas the $43.00 Ti cup is 4.5oz.

This thread had got me thinking about my gear. I am a backpacker and a bicycle tourist. I use a MSR ti kettle for backpacking and a GSI Soloist for touring. Phat and others talking about using a plastic cup made me think about things. I have been using a double walled ti cup. I don't like the single wall ti cups.

So, my plastic cup from the GSI Soloist will fit inside the MSR ti kettle and the cup has ounce markings so that makes it a double use item. The lid for the cup fits on the lid of the ti kettle and a large canister of fuel will fit on top of that and is contained with a mesh stuff sack. The weight of the kettle and cup is 6.6 ounces. Good enough for me. Thanks all.

I'm considering this same dilemma. Weight isn't an issue with me, I'm nowhere near even light let alone ultra light. Right now the best I can do it get the family to car camp when the temps are "just right". I have several other pots to boil in so my main concern is keeping the liquid hot/cold and burning my lips. Does the Ti transfer a lot of heat if say the liquid is 1/2 from the rim, 3/4, etc. What's peoples experience on that part of the single/double wall dilemma.

Thanks all.

Actually, Ti does not transfer heat well (which is why it's great for boiling water but not for "real" cooking). By the time my tea has cooled enough to drink (and I drink it really hot), the rim of my little 550 ml pot is cool!

OM went through the physics. As for single verses double walled, I would go with a single because they are lighter, cheaper and you can use them to boil water in. A doubled-walled mug should not be put on a stove or fire.

Well, I purchased a double wall and I'm glad I did. Hot tea made at home with boiling water took about 10 min to cool to drinkable temps, i.e. not lip scalding hot, the rim was only warm to the touch and the tea stayed hot while leisurely drinking it. Cold beverages seem to stay cold as well; ice lasts a while in the cup and the outside didn't sweat. Not really a backpackers concern I know, but a concern for someone like me who will use it for everyday use.

Definately not a concern when backpacking.

In a single walled cup the idea is that you do not fill the cup all the way to the rim; in fact I only fill mine around 3/4 full and by the time I have placed my pot on the ground and extinguished my stove I am able to drink from the cup without burning my lips-- and stays warm throughout my breakfast or dinner, which is long enough for me.

True, if you want a mug to take to work, class or to use around the home then a doubled walled is probably the way to go in order to keep your beverage warm enough for such a purpose. In the back-country, one often doesn't mull over a cup of coffee for a hour or so and thus a double-walled mug is not much use.

Am I the only one who just uses a free and nearly weightless styrofoam cup for hot beverages?

Tucks neatly into my pot, and my stove and small container of sugar (for hot tea) fit neatly into the cup. Pretty lightweight, the only "heavy" portion of my cook kit is my GSI kettle, which I bought because it's dual use...not in the usual sense though, dual as in I use it both at home and on the trail.

If I could get an alcohol stove to work efficiently with the Foster's can pot that I made, it would almost certainly replace the 6 ounce GSI kettle.

Too be honest taM my mug is my pot also. I use a SP 600 and cook freezer bag style. No need for an additional mug. Eat out of the bag and drink out of the 600.

makes sense...unless you're toting a not-so-conducive-to-drinking kettle, another decent reason for me wanting to ditch the thing, other than overall heft.

styrofoam! duh!

i've been puzzling these last couple of weeks about how to shed cooking kit weight.. use a snow peak ~1 L with alcohol stove for 2 people but mainly boil water and make 2 courses.. soup + one bag meal.

was thinking of buying a ti cup to eat the soup out of while boiling more water. but styrofoam is the obvious answer!

however i'm still on the lookout for the lightest cheap pot to boil 0.5 L quickly in on an cat can stove..

Do they still sell the instant soup mix in styrofoam cup/bowls? If so, that solves the problem of trying to clean the styrofoam.

I own zero ti cooking gear...mostly because I'm a cheapskate and that I've found lighter alternatives. ANY plastic cup works. So does a tin can if you want it flame proof. I have plastic kid cups left over from when my kids were babies that weigh almost nothing, yet you could park you car on one...indestructible. My pot is a a VERY thin stainless pot pulled from Walmart's "stainless cook set" that weighs about what a ti pot of the same size weighs. They have the same thing in aluminum now which is lighter. I've cut the bottoms from disposable waterbottles, and they make a spiffy, collapsible cup....you can crush them flat several times before leaks finally develop, then they make good fire starters. Look around...lot of cheap/free options you probably already own.

Expensive and "trendy" I know, but I'm really happy with my Evernew ECA-418. I made a pot cozy for it out of Reflectix; it's super light, strong and durable, and keeps food hot for a LONG time. Boiled water stays 180°+F for well over a few hours.

My 2¢.

this sounds like a bit of a stretch...

I do stand corrected! Must have been the thermos test that I remembered. Boiled water with reflectix cozy kept water from 208°F to 158°F for about 1h10m. Nowhere near the 2 hours and 180°F.

Sorry for the misinformation.