A while back I was commenting about the individual packaging of Ultimate Survival Technologies' "WetFire" tinder, specifically from my batches purchased in 2008 and early 2009. Upon contacting the company directly they replaced my faulty tinder and sent me some replacements (great customer service, BTW). However, the replacements closely mirrored the original versions, so I was a little hesitant to abuse them.

It appears that UST is now packaging the WetFire tinder in a more robust way. The edges are sealed more strongly and the tinder provided has grown in size (6g for new, 3g for old).

Below are some pictures of the front and back showing the new packaging (top) and the old packaging (bottom):

I had some wetfire in clear popout packaged from when I was 10 or 12 (I'm 27) I found last year - totally worthless. The cellophane on top of the packages clearly let some air in. Boo. These new packages look better than the oldies.

I have never used the WetFire for tinder, but I recently purchased a WetFire Stove (ultralight Ti three leg with a platform for the WetFire). Interesting little stove, but it would not even heat a pint of water in 72 degree weather and no wind. I was very disappointed. Maybe the new tablets are going to make the grade, especially if they have less smoke. (The pot was worse than a smokey wood fire.)

The best,

Jerry

Jerry:

I've heard that the thing to burn in those Wetfire* stoves is Esbit* (available at REI* and a bunch of other places). Wetfire works great as a tinder but burns too fast and too inefficiently for cooking.

HJ

*No affiliation of any kind with any of the firms or products mentioned in this post. However, if any of said companies would like to shower me with free products, how could I say no? I'm sure that'll be happening any minute now.

HJ,

I tried the Esbit tabs and they work about as well as they do in an Esbit stove. The only problem is that there is no windbreak like the Esbit. I added a bit of aluminum foil for a windbreak and it works well at a LOT less weight (1.1 oz with the pouch and foil). Great for an emergency stove but not my taste for an everyday mugup. 8 to 10 min. for a pint of water to heat and plenty of crud on the pot (the stuff sack gets real dirty and it is easy to spread around). I'll keep the Pocket Rocket for every day, but we keep trying.

The best,

Jerry

Jerry,

Yeah, I'm not a big fan of Esbit. Esbit is the lightest fuel out there (based on the studies that I've read) -- you can get a titanium wing stove (sort of like the Wetfire stove), and you're in business for a few grams -- but I've never liked the smell, the difficulty in lighting, the residue, or the slowness.

The one really big advantage of Esbit is it's the only fuel that you can carry on a plane. Gas canisters? Coleman fuel? Kerosene? Forget about it. But Esbit is just fine. It also stores well. I can see that it has some uses, but it's never been my favorite fuel. Sometimes I've carried it in my emergency kit, but never as my primary cooking means.

HJ

Once upon a time, a friend and I decided to go on a controlled trip to the mountains in the wet summer season and try out all the "survival" products we had accumulated, some since the Boy Scouting days. We learned a lot.

When it came to fire, we did not consider it a problem because we had so many "firestarters" along. We intended to cook on the fire and had no other means of cooking with us. So, we set up a tarp shelter, played around with various products and finally got to dinner time and time to start a fire. It had rained a slow steady rain all day and most wood was damp or real wet but we gathered and prepared enough wood for a nice fire and proceded to test our firestarting goodies. What a surprise, all the different products and not a single one worked, including the WetFire. Not sure how old they were, but for sure they were old and my friend had been carrying them in his PSK.

In fact some products would not even burn once a fire was started and the "firestarter" was thrown into the fire! What ended up working was a surprise as well. After much frustration we were about to walk a few miles back to the vehicle and pick up a backpacking stove to cook dinner on and I decided to try one last thing. I took pocket lint from some pocket and inside the pocket I had a bunch of Starburst candy wrappers which I had been eating all day, put that in the fire pit, sparked the lint with a Metalmatch and applied the Starburst wrappers. The waxed paper of the wrappers burned hot and burned a fairly long time. Our fire took off and we finally had dinner while discussing the useless items we had been depending on for decades and the possible outcome if needed in a real emergency.

Bottom line, always test things to be sure they really work, never trust just one method and always check items that have aged before taking them along and depending on them!

I now carry a variety of firemaking tools, all tested and checked. The Fire Fixin's kit is very good, the Vasoline/cotton balls works great (be sure they haven't dried out on you), waxpaper when wadded up is excellent as well. Simple is good!
Cheers

Excellent points. Did you have Tinder Qwik on that trip, and if so did you experience any failures?

The problem with Wetfire in my mind has always been that I'm not sure I can depend on it. If the package is compromised in any way, it's no good.

HJ

I don't think Tinder Qwik was available back then. We had things that were available back then and previously. Seems any product with wax or better yet, Bee's wax impegnated is pretty reliable for lighting and burning for a reasonable time. I carry a Spark-Lite with the Tinder Qwik in my packs as one of my firemaking options and consider them reliable. Check that the flint hasn't oxidized into dust in the Spark-Lite though. I have the aluminum model that I can remove and check/replace the flint. Well worth the extra few dollars!

Hmm. It has been a few years on the Spark-Lite. Thanks for the tip.

Just the nature of the Tinder Qwik seems to make it less susceptible to "expiration" which has made it one of my selections. Rubber from old bike tires works pretty well too.

HJ

I have started keeping the WetFire tinder in a relatively airtight container of some sort. Either a small Ziploc baggie, a pill bottle, Lock 'n' Lock, etc. Even vacuum sealed a batch with the Foodsaver. Hopefully that negates some of the problems of air exposure degrading the tinder.

I have for many (won't tell you how many :-) used old T-shirts, cut into 3 to 4 inch squares and dipped into hot paraffin. Not as good as a tinder, but a GREAT fire starter. Works when wet, never dries out (I have some that I have used after 30 years) and can't be broken. Starts well with a match, or a little Tinder Quick or a pile of shavings when using a metal match.

The best,

Jerry

I don't think a ziploc is going to do it for Wetfire. If the packaging of the Wetfire is compromised in anyway, that's all she wrote; you've got no fire starter. I think a small tin or small tupperware container to protect the packaging might work, or as you say a pill bottle. It pretty much has to be hard sided in other words.

HJ

As a Multi-use item,I treat cotton balls with siliconized Mink oil rather than Vaseline.It is just as flammable,smells good,last's forever,floats,& you can treat your Boots/seams of boots/leather products,& Still have working tinder!Though as would Vaseline,I would NOT use Mink oil as a remedy for Monkey Butt,lol!

I'm a big fan of the Tinder Qwik! Usually I cut on in half and use that to start a fire. Other times, I simply use the Vaseline and cotton ball trick. I often have some birch bark on hand to help "accelerate" the fire to a nice temp.

In addition to the spark lite, I also carry a Firesteel. I really like it and throws a nice shower of sparks.

I've not read all the posts in the thread; so forgive me if someone mentioned this already; you can get the same product as the wetfire for a fraction of the cost at home depot or hardware stores called "weber firestarter cubes". more, larger and cheaper!

Nice. Thanks for the tip.

HJ

I have a small farm with pastures surrounded with trees so I always get lots of windfall to pick up and burn every spring. This year was especially wet here in the PNW and the Weber fire starter cubes never failed me to get a fire going fast. I did pick up a package of the Wetfire (fortunately the new packages) for my kits. The only downside of the Weber cubes is that it’s not individually wrapped, but I think it's exactly the same stuff. Best fire starter I've used by far when it's wet.

The Weber stuff lights easily and burns hot, and it burns for quiet awhile. I keep it in my pack just in case a cotton ball isn't enough or the cotton gets wet.

I've got Tinder-Quik, but for those difficult fires, I like to use an Esbit tab to get it started.

How durable is the Weber stuff? Does it hold up any better than Wetfire (which doesn't hold up particularly well)?

And how large is it? It sounds like it's a lot bigger than the little blocks of Wetfire. Once you open the packaging, I assume any portion that is unused will go bad quickly, yes?

HJ

It's too soon for me to tell if will "spoil" after opening. I'm not sure why it would but I don't know. They're inexpensive enough that you could replace them frequently, using up aging stock for the intended purpose of lighting your grill. Sealing them with something like a Foodsaver would probably also work. As for size the cubes aroue about 1" or so. They are somewhat crumbly not in a dry, chalky way. They're easy to break up or cut but they hold together pretty well.

I would estimate a single Weber cube is about 2-3x the size of a single WetFire cube. You are definitely getting more for your money.

You're right, once you open foil backing on the Weber packaging air can get into the individual "compartments", each holding a cube.

One way around that is I have cut a bunch of cubes out from the main portion, then vacuum sealed them together. This should eliminate the air problem. I also have a batch sitting in a regular Ziploc bag. After some more time passes I'm going to open both up and test them again.

And yes, if you are close to a Home Depot or similar store, you can find the Weber cubes priced at around $4 a pack.

I think the WetFire cubes must have something volatile in them, something that allows them to burn even in water. I imagine that when the packaging is compromised, the volatile compounds evaporate or sublimate away.

I've kind of decided that as much as I like WetFire that it isn't really practical. A tinder that isn't durable and dependable isn't really all that helpful. Maybe if I lived in a wet climate the hassle of constantly rotating stock and carrying it in a hard sided container would be worth it.

HJ

Yes Naphtha or it at least was.
I assume they haven't changed.
Essentially the same as Zippo lighters use.

I think the wetfire cubes have some value but perhaps not in a soft sided PSK. I'm going to carry the tender that's in Doug's kit in the PSK with some additional wetfire cubes in my backpack and SUV. While the wetfire is impressive it wouldn't be if it gets damaged and won't do the job.

That makes perfect sense. The cube acts as sort of a wick for the naptha stored inside it. If the package is damaged, then the Naptha eventually evaporates until all you have left is the "wick". This is the same problem that one has with a Zippo lighter that has been left in storage: the lighter will be dry. Never use a Zippo in a BOB or something like that.

HJ

That's basically the conclusion I've come to.

HJ

Same here... instead of keeping a cube of WetFire in the handle of my UST Strike Force firesteel, I've got four or five tabs of the Tinder Quik in a tiny zipper baggie. The WetFire has been reserved for vehicle kits, hard-sided kits, backpacks, or camping.

The Weber stuff works awesome if you crush it nearly to dust. So I think just a ziplock would be sufficient. I've used it that way several times.

How long will it "keep" in crushed form?

It makes sense to me that if you crush it and burn it immediately that it would work great. What happens if you crush it and leave it in a Ziploc for a couple of months?

HJ

Just saw this on the Country Comm web site:

Fire Gel

Looks interesting- states "indefinite shelf life"

Pete

I wouldn't rely on that. Consider earlier discussion in this thread about failure of the sealed-foil packaging (maybe the new packaging will fix that problem).

I'd be even less-inclined to trust Ziploc. In my experience, Ziplocs aren't truly air-tight. Squeeze the air out of one with something in it; seal it; wait. After awhile, it's puffed back up (maybe I'm using cheap 'Ziplocs').

Related: I've tried FoodSaver vacuum sealer with some success to further seal (still in original packaging) some supplies to extend useful life.

I Alway's carry pieces of Fatwood in many different forms,in many different pockets,short of a thousand yrs. or so,as to avoid Petrifacation-lol,this stuff has the longest shelf life of any Tinder,can be drilled to hang on anything,& a few small slivers,Will light-up just about Anything,It smells Good,though the smoke is quite toxic/Black.It doesn't float All that well,But It is Completely Water-proof! The burnt residual,will bugger up the bottom of a Canteen cup Real Good,but it burns Very Hot!Here in fire prone California,It is Quite Easy to find,just look for burnt stumps of Pine trees,the center area usually has a quantity left,for the picking.A hammer/chisel will make for an Easier Extraction,Make sure you have some Eye protection of some kind,this stuff chips Alot!Please make Certain,You are Not on Govn't Land,or National Park land,as It is VERY Illegal in those Perameter's!