Lightweight solid fuel use and options

[Eljimberino]

So I bought a solid fuel holder stove, made a windscreen out of al foil and put a cup on it. Five minutes to boil water for a cuppa or cous cous. The fuel I used says it's basically half wax half wood. It doesn't really smell unlit but is a bit chemically lit and especially after I blew it out. Anyone use one of these all the time? A 32 tab pack should get me 64 boils going by my experiment. The only downside seems to be soot on the cup.

[Eljimberino]

So I've learnt two things with this set up.

1) you need a different vessel to drink from than what you boil the water with - the taste of the fuel stays on the boiling vessel

2) with this type of fuel it's better to cut a cube in half than light a whole cube, snuff it and try to use it again.

[Franco]

I also suggest that you try to snuff it out rather than blow it out.
So make yourself a "snuffer" a cover that fits over the fuel and down the sides.
Could be made out of aluminium foil.

[Moondog55]

I've used those as firelighters; they burn too slow really for boiling water on effectively IMO
The white ones made from kerosine are faster but the same fuel taste in the water, they have an advantage cost wise as sometimes Bunnings sell them dirt cheap to move old stock

[Eljimberino]

I did make a snuffer.

A pack of 32 Samba cubes costs about 2.30 from the supermarket. So even if I used one whole cube per boil it's pretty cheap.

I'll try the white cubes in future but I don't need a rolling boil.