Hi,

I've been considering adding a commando stove and Esbit fuel to my kit. I'm wondering what sort of performance I can get from it. I just tried one out on my front steps, with mixed results.

- How easy is it supposed to be to light? I tried to light it with my metal match, first without magnesium flakes, and then with, to no success. However, I seem to suck at using a metal match. It lit pretty easily with a small strike-anywhere match.

- It seemed to last about 10 minutes, with the last half fairly weak. It was able to bring a cup of water to a vigorous simmer after about 5 minutes, but it never quite made it to a good boil. Is this about right? Perhaps part of the problem is that there was a bit of a breeze, and when the flame wasn't going straight up the water wasn't boiling.

- What is it? It smelled somewhat waxy as it was burning, with some other chemically smells I didn't recognize. Is it nasty?

- Does it have a shelf life? Are the ones I got from the neighborhood surplus store probably there because they are too old?

Benton