Backcountry Cooking: Twig Stoves: Practical or Novelty?

Can twig stoves serve a practical use in backcountry cooking? Let's fire up a twig stove and compare it to a typical white gas or propane/isobutane backpacking stoves to find out. We will compare options in terms of weight, cost, performance and convenience, and determine what practical role a twig stove can really play in the backcountry.

THE TWIG STOVES
In this video, I'm using a gasifiertype twig stove from Canway, purchased from Amazon for only $20. Here's a new similar version: https://amzn.to/3i165IQ
(Note that this stove has an open bottom, which could allow hot ash to spill out. Do not use this stove on a combustible surface.)

Solo Stove makes a similar gasifier twig stove with a solid bottom that avoids this problem. This Backpacker magazine recommended stove does come at a higher price, but can be purchased in 2 sizes:
Solo Stove Lite (12 people): https://amzn.to/31zmGLz
Solo Stove Titan (34 people): https://amzn.to/2yUSwX1



OBSERVATIONS:
In this video, I compare a Canway gasifier twig stove to an MSR WhisperLite International white gas backpacking stove and a Jetboil propane/isobutanepowered backpacking stove. Here are some observations:

Advantages of Twig Stove:
Cost: twig stove $20, WhisperLite $120 and Jetboil $100.
Fuel: twig stove $0, WhisperLite $13/quart (inexpensive), Jetboil $5/canister (expensive)
Volume: twig stove and Jetboil a bit smaller than WhisperLite and fuel bottle
Quiet!

Disadvantage of Twig Stove:
Not as fast as Jetboil to set up, start and get water boiling.
Can't use during some fire bans (check with local authority).
Dry wood can be more challenging to find in snow or rainy conditions.
Leaves soot residue on cookware.

CONCLUSIONS:
Will I be replacing my Whisperlite or Jetboil with a twig stove for use in the backcountry? No. The Whisperlite can't be beat for reliable cooking on long backpacking trips, and a Jetboil can't be beat for convenience on short backpacking trips.

But I do enjoy the twig stove cooking experience enough to enough to bring it along as a second stove on canoeing or sea kayaking trips, where weight and volume are less of an issue. I really like how quiet it is and like and really enjoy the overall ambiance of cooking over burning wood.

What are your thoughts? Leave a comment below.


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