Esbit again

Well Gang. I finally found some Esbit. It seems hard to come by in Canada. However, I found out that it is used as fuel for toy steam engines. A local hobby store in my city carries it. I am overjoyed ,and now I am looking forward to trying it out this coming week.

Howie

Howie,

Cook with two tabs. Blow them out when done cooking & begin the next meal with one new tab on top of the old, partly burned tabs. Just using one tab at a time is too slow. And heck, thay weight next to nothing anyhow.

Eric

I use a BPL Ti WIng Esbit stove and it only allows one tab. Even with this, I can bring a pint of water to fisheyes in under 9 minutes. I guess boil time is a relative matter, but it isn't a problem for me. Just be sure to use a foil windscreen, or it can take a LOT longer, and a single tab may not boil that pint.

My local store (Cadillac Mtn Sports of both Bar Harbor and Ellsworth, Maine, )was able to order these for me from one of their suppliers. I had just bought a really nifty little titanium stove, which was designed both for Esbit and alcohol. Either way, not the fastest for a quick boil, but I wanted the extra options.

It had been years since I was near an Esbit tab---I don't remember them smelling as bad as they do now. Not when burning, but when you open the pack, rather a bad stench. Is this a safety feature to make them less appealing to the little ones, who may once have mistaken them for sugar cubes?