I went on a short overnighter this weekend. The air was dry and the wind was calm, but the 22-25 degF nightly temps made the fire most welcome. Again, conditions were perfect but I was amazed (as always) at what a large, fast blaze can be made from [tinder + twig bundle + finger-sized sticks]. I ditched the backpacking stove and just used the fire to heat water.

PJ balls are excellent but I have found that if you carry them off-body in cold weather they can become very hard to pull apart for use as tinder. If you kept some in a pocket of your clothing that may be enough to keep them warmer, though the outer pocket of a parka might not be enough. Then again maybe I used too much PJ in those things. I know that a tube of Bacitracin ointment (which is like 98% PJ) gets very hard to squeeze in weather below freezing.

I really like the idea of a small, dedicated piece of emergency fatwood wrapped in wax paper and foil. The foil helps keep the melted PJ from running out into the ground.