...a small cottage industry located in the backwoods of Maine, dedicated to ultra-light backpacking with a focus on compact alcohol stoves and cooking gear designed for trail use. While our equipment is designed for backpacking and wilderness trekking it is also ideal for bicycle touring, long-haul trucking or any place a compact, easy-to-use cooking solution is needed.
On my first backpacking trip, my pack weighed 50 pounds. The trail was a 3000-foot elevation gain over 5 miles. This led to the realization that weight matters. In other words, the lighter your pack, the more you can enjoy hiking (and the further you can go); the heavier your pack, the more you can enjoy camping. -See the difference? When I first looked to lighten my pack, I could get down to 35 pounds easily, simply by eliminating what I really didn't need. Once I had gotten rid of all the non-essentials, what I was left with as a weight-reduction option was reducing the weight of my essential-carry items. As I set out to accomplish this, I learned a frustrating truth in the commercial gear world; that fewer pounds (or ounces, or grams) meant MORE MONEY for lighter gear.
One answer to this problem is to design and build your own gear. This is the path I took. I started with stoves. My original backpacking trip included a wood-burning "zip" stove and a butane canister-fuel stove with a spare canister. That adds up fast, in terms of weight.
I spent an evening searching stove options on the internet and this is where I discovered soda-can stoves. I found plans for one, built it and lit it. When I saw the blossom of blue flame, I was hooked. I have been designing, building and tweaking alcohol stoves ever since. What a hobby!
start with the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) page. This will help you (and me) begin to find a stove that is right for your needs.
