Coghlan's Solid Fuel Tablets 144 Pack

Pros:Price, weight, ease of useCons:Residue/unburned fuel (cleanup), odor, transport storageThe pros are things I look for; the cons in this case are not deal-breakers, or even that difficult to deal with.Photos show test configuration. The nature of the stove, burner, and tab to pot height controlled the airflow to the tab(s) resulting in a longer burn time than advertised.Placing the cup too low in the stove snuffs the flame, so in all tests the cup bottom was positioned so the slot and vent holes were not obstructed while placed as low as possible in the stove.Water temps were sampled with probe in mass center of water body.Equipment:16oz/473ml waterStainless steel standard US Army issue canteen cup (no cover)Aluminum canteen cup stove (generic)Trangia Eurohike gel/solid fuel burnerGeneric kitchen meat thermometer with probeConditions:Tab to pot height ~1"/25mmNo windAmbient air temp 68F/20C (indoors - simulation of decent outdoors day weatherwise)Water temp 44F/6.7COne tab results:13 minute burn timeSteam rising, boil initiated (light fizzing)Water temp 150F/65.6CNo smoke during burnSmall amount of residue left on cup bottom (easily removed by wiping while still warm)Two tabs side by side touching:31 minute burn timeSteam rising, boil initiated (heavy fizzing)Water temp 170F/76.7CLight smoke during burn (reduces with time)Moderate amount of residue left on cup bottom (easily removed by wiping while still warm)Fuel burned completely in these two indoor tests.Equipment:16oz/473ml waterStainless steel US Army canteen cup (no cover)Aluminum canteen cup stoveTrangia Eurohike gel/solid fuel burnerGeneric kitchen meat thermometer with probeConditions:Tab to pot height ~1"/25mmNo windAmbient air temp 38F/3.3C (outdoors)Water temp 44F/6.7COne tab results:10 minute burn timeSteam rising, bubbles formed on bottom of cupWater temp 109F/42.8CNo smoke during burnSmall amount of residue left on cup bottom (easily removed by wiping while still warm)Two tabs side by side touching:17 minute burn timeSteam rising, boil initiated (light fizzing)Water temp 138F/58.9CLight smoke during burn (reduces with time)Moderate amount of residue left on cup bottom (easily removed by wiping while still warm)Fuel did not burn completely in either outdoor test. Ambient temperature played a part in this, as the fuel did burn completely indoors. One tab unburned fuel simply "popped off" the bottom of the burner. Two tabs unburned fuel is difficult to remove from the burner (I chiseled some off with a table knife), so I relit it and burned it off. In either case I recommend relighting any leftover fuel in open air to consume it, reduce toxicity, and make cleanup easier - the ash is spongy and just falls out with a tap of the burner, but will crumble if you try to handle it.I did not test two tabs stacked vertically or side by side separated (as opposed to touching) either indoors or outdoors yet. Two tabs stacked will need a different test configuration because of the height.Ambient temp and airflow affect performance. Lower ambient temps resulted in lower final water temps, lower airflow and ambient temps resulted in unburned fuel. Counteract this with three tabs and better airflow (which might even be enough to boil water for 2 mins - that's a future test).Naphtha (lighter fluid) and 91% isopropanol can clean up some of the residue, with naphtha being far superior. I have not yet tried acetone. If the residue cools off too much before cleaning, reheat it until it melts slightly and then wipe off the worst of it, then use naphtha to remove the rest. Some staining may remain.Overall, a pretty good bang for your buck. Inexpensive, light, and any butane lighter will ignite them. (I intend to test a ferro starter/magnesium for ignition in the future.) These seem to work as good or better than advertised, and are a viable option for sufficiently heating water to reconstitute dehydrated foodstuffs/MREs, ramen noodles, or prepared dry rice (baked @ 250F/121.1C for 10 mins before packing for trail use).Number of tabs to use is dependent on ambient conditions. Use filtered and/or treated water (Sawyer/Lifestraw and chlorine/iodine); I would not use them to sterilize water - you're better off just building a fire and getting a 2-min rolling boil to do that.Transport storage is simple: use US quarter size screw-top plastic coin tubes (inexpensive, transparent, and very lightweight). This will protect them from damage and keep the odor under control.They are not intended to cook food directly (such as by grilling - hexamine is toxic). If you start a cooking fire with one, be certain the tab is completely consumed before you start cooking.

Testing them with no wind and on a temperate weather day I can cook one pack of Ramen noodles in 1-1/2 cups of water in a 750mL titanium cup with the lid on. Having the lid on is important.Except that it is darn hard stir the contents I have heated up a can of chili with the lid off or you can dump it out of the can into the 750mL cup and it does that fine. That is the limit of what I have been able to do with one tablet.If you want to heat up more, you are going to need a lot more tablets and maybe two at a time.Even if you prefer other types of stoves, or a campfire I believe you should bring some of these fuel tablets along as backups or as fire starters.Some don.t like the smell. Only use them outside and the smell is small compared to smell of burning wood. Keep your face and nose away from the stove.Note I have real esbit type stove and some copies, and they all work the same with similar quality.I have 2 different makers fuel tablets and they work the same.

There are pros and cons to using hexamine fuel tabs:Pros: The fuel tabs are fairly easy to light with a match. I was not very successful in using a flint and magnesium alone, however. They don’t melt and leave no ash. They have a reportedly high shelf life and you don’t have to worry about spills in keeping a pack of these in your backpack. I think they make a great fire starter as well.Cons: it is recommended to use hexamine in a very well ventilated area as the fumes are toxic. I don’t think I would recommend cooking with an open frying pan - only a pot that has a lid. But that’s just me. be careful not to spill anything acid on the fuel tabs as doing so could release the formaldehyde that is in the hexamine compound. Unlike propane, hexamine leaves a greasy black sit on the stove and the bottom of the pot. The packaging says that each fuel tab burns for nine minutes. I tested four of them and they all lasted for 5 to 6 minutes. I required 3 fuel tabs to get 2 cups of water to a boil.Other thoughts: Each box of 24 fuel tabs columns double sealed. One plastic wrapper around all 24 and then each pack of 12 is also sealed in it’s on plastic wrapper. I think these fuel tabs are a great addition to an emergency go bag. I would prefer to use propane or another cleaner fuel in my day to day camping.

I tested these against other tablets and I think these are the winner.Using a pocket folding stove and several other stoves including a Goshawk EDDY-200, the tablets work as well as the name brand ones.I can hard boil two cups of water with 1.5 tablets. I have found the key to these smaller tablets is to use them singly and adding the second when the first tablet dies down.They smell just like the other tablets and leave the same residue. I found that using them in the Goshawk 200 gasifying wood stove has the cleanest burn with significantly less residue on your pots, the gasifier increases the efficiency of the burn and provides an excellent wind block.At 1.7 cents a tablet, these are a no brainer purchase that packs well in the box they come in.

Arrived really fast. The tablets are tiny ( pills will be a more appropriate name), but burn hot, leave considerable amount of ash, and three of them fell short of boiling 2 cups of water (1 coffee, 1food), that is the reason for the three stars. When attempted to put a fourth one in (I was starting to get impatient), burned the back of my fingers (clumsy I guess) and by the time I finished whining and moaning, the water got Luke warm again. Second try, put 4 of them, bout seven minutes water was done, and so were the pills. By the way t'was windy in South Florida.Few days later, kept tinkering, and voila!!!! Grabbed some aluminum foil folded in for or five times till I got a strip wrapped it into a cylinder just a tad bigger than the tablets(2 of them) light it up and boiled two cups of water 500 ml) one for coffee one for dinner, it was a matter of thinking and tinkering. Up one star and happy camping