Quote Originally Posted by fastfoxengineering View Post
QiWiz,

I plan on using a caldera cone or similar windscreen if I use Esbit. However, how come you were using so many cubes? Were you using the smaller 4 gram ones or the large 14grams ones.

I've been doing some boil tests with a trail designs gramcracker stove, hardware cloth pot support, and snow peak trek 700. I've boiled 2 cups of H20 the past few mornings for coffee. Each time, without a windscreen, yes, no windscreen, I didn't use a full 14 gram esbit cube to boil the cups. I probably used about 3/4's of a cube.

So, if I were to go Esbit, I would carry a full cube for each day (2 cups of water for dinner and use the leftovers for the occasional coffee in the am) no hot breakfast, but maybe that cup of joe. I would pack 1 extra cube. 4 days out = 5 cubes.

I am however, on the east coast, boiling two cups of h20 outside in about 40 degree weather. Don't know how it will do with an elevation change.

so yeah.. why 2.5 cubes a day?

ps. I'm taking my big dig with me!
I know I'm late with an answer, but better late than never. I use the 14 g cubes. I typically heat 4 cups of water in the evening for dinner (1.5 Esbit cubes) to yield 2 cups of hot tea and 2 cups for rehydrating my meal. I heat 2-3 cups of water in the morning (0.5 to 1.0 Esbit cubes) for 2 cups of coffee and rehydrating hot cereal for some breakfasts. Lots of people use less water at meals than I do, but that's why I budget 2.5 cubes a day. Extra half-cubes get used for pre-dinner hot drinks in camp while watching the scenery. Since a cube only weighs a half-ounce, it's still just 1.25 oz/day of fuel weight.