[pct-l] Esbit Stove

[adrian.borner at ch.abb.com (adrian.borner@ch.abb.com)]

I use Esbit since I am a child and my mother already used it when she was 
hiking 70 years ago.
I used them on my thru-hike on the AT, LT on section hikes on the PCT (WA, 
OR, High Sierra) without any problems. I use commercial dehydrated food 
and as a result only have to bring the water to a boil. On high altitude I 
leave it cooking for a minute or two, then blow out the tablet. Depending 
on my appetite I may cook first my dessert (e.g. rice pudding) and 
continue immediately with my meal. Lighting it in wind is a bit tricky but 
I never had a real problem. My windscreen is made of a fire blanket with a 
wire sawn in on one side. It is still the original one I made in 2001 for 
my AT hike. Also the titanium small stove is still the same.
They also make good fire starters even when the wood is not absolutely 
dry.
Sometimes I ship the tablets with my normal resupply box, a few times I 
did it separately or have it shipped directly from REI with surface mail. 
The forms are a bit of a problem and the post office staff often does not 
know what to do. In the past I also took the tablets in my check-in 
luggage, but have stopped doing this with the recent security situation.
Happy Trail
Adrian