Good, because I was about to post a new thread on alcohol stoves. A while back on another survival forum, they were introduced, as well as the methods of home manufacture for them. I've personally had the chance to examine one and damn, they're light!!

Also, from a survival standpoint (not just backpacking), it seems to make a lot of sense to use a fuel that neither requires pressure to contain nor refinement to manufacture. In essence, it's a fuel that in a post-apocalyptic world with no modern manufacturing facilities, may be made with an ordinary still, and the fuel itself may be transported in any water container (theoretically - in practice, we'll carry alcohol for the stove separate from our water) without any special attention towards a pressure container nor the equipment necessary to recharge it.

What I'm asking is, has anyone actually USED the pop-can alcohol stoves?

ZEN Alcohol Stoves Home Page

The only drawback I see is the lack of a method for adjusting the flame other than raising or lowering the item cooking higher or lower on it. It's either on or it's off, and you must be able to do whatever it is you're doing in one shot without refill, because it's not practical to refill it while it's burning, nor soon after as the can itself gets quite hot...the good news is that it cools quickly as well.

So, other than the obvious, what could be some drawbacks to using the alcohol stove that aren't present with other backpacker/survival stove options? I mean, the need for a wind shield (another essential piece, though light) a pot stand (yet another semi-essential piece unless you design the stove itself to BE the pot stand) and the possibility of perhaps a grill stand (for multiple burners for perhaps grilling or even heating a cast-iron griddle for pancakes?) which would add to the weight...

I guess after all that rambling, I'm just wondering if I should retire my little backpacking butane stove and go with the alcohol stove in my BoB and want to have some idea of what sacrifices I'll have to make in convenience in order to get the benefits already mentioned?

The Stove In Use - Short 1.31 Meg Mpeg

Here it is being lit using a warming pan, the pot stand, then a wind shield, and finally setting the pot on top.


Panz