Chris Townsend reviews a lightweight wood-burning stove.
This review was first published in the August 2018 issue of The Great Outdoors.
Described as a ‘natural convection inverted downgas gasifier stove’, the Titan is actually quite a simple design. It’s a double- wall stainless steel cylinder with air holes round the base and smaller holes inside at the top. Warm air is pushed up the channel between the walls and out of the top holes. This, says Solo Stove, causes a secondary combustion that allows the fire to burn more completely. It does too, producing little smoke once hot and very fine ash. For fuel you need dry twigs and cones. These can be fed in through a gap in the pot support that sits in the top of the cylinder. If you just want a little fire to watch or warm your hands on this can be removed – but use a metal spoon or tent peg to flip it off. It gets hot!
There’s a grid inside the cylinder about two-thirds of the way down. The fuel sits on top of this and ash falls through. Twigs and cones of 10cm or less are best. There’s a gap between the base of the inner and outer cylinders too so the bottom doesn’t get too hot and scorch the ground. I still wouldn’t place it on vegetation though.
The Titan is reasonably wind-resistant though a strong wind can blow the flames sideways. The pot supports are big enough for pots up to 2 litres. For woodland camps where there’s dry fuel the Titan is a great little stove that’s fun to use. It’s quite compact too as the pot support can be inverted and stored inside the cylinder. It’s not practical for much British wild camping though.
