When we moved last month, I was being a good person and left behind all my fuel canisters, giving them away. I figured it wouldn’t be hard to get new ones once I got settled into the East Coast. They were on the list of things we couldn’t pack in the moving pods and truck, following the rules and all.
When I got here, I found out it wasn’t so easy. I was used to having an REI location on the mainland, where I could take the ferry to the mainland, then the bus to the mall and pick up a season’s worth of gear a couple times a year. It isn’t that REI is far away here, I have to drive to Virginia, but the closest one is bare of fuel canisters. So I figured…go to Walmart, buy an off-brand. I go, and the section is bare. Well, that was dandy.
Then you face the real issue. Due to the regulations on fuel, almost no one ships it now. REI doesn’t. The manufacturers like MSR do not either. It has to go ground for shipping. But Amazon is willing to play the game, to a point. It’ll cost, though. I saw a brand called Gas One, and after asking around, the answer was that the fuel was fine for what it was; it was 3-season, though, not good for winter use. Considering it’s been in the upper 70s and low 80s, I wasn’t worried about needing 4-season fuel anytime soon. By then, I can get to an REI location and buy a rack of canisters from Snow Peak and MSR.
My hesitancy over fuel brands I don’t know goes back a long way. It was in the 2000’s and I had been using a Primus canister stove that Kirk had given me (he had ordered it years before and REI sent him a pack of six stoves on accident, and would not budge that they had made a mistake – he was charged only for one stove – so for years we used those, and gave some away). That Primus stove worked great until I used this really nasty canister fuel I had found at the local Walmart. It came in a black can, and thankfully, I have not seen it in a long time. It was so bad that my stove got fouled so that it wouldn’t light. My friend, who was very mechanically inclined, tore it apart in camp and got it clean.
So, yes, I have real issues with unknown fuel. But having others say they had used Gas One, and that it is made in South Korea, versus China, I decided to gamble on it, as I could order a six-pack of fuel on Amazon and it was “only” $36.99. Each canister is under $7, so that was fine. The only other place I could buy online with shipping was nearly $11 a canister, with a huge shipping fee.
In our move, Kirk found the last Primus stove. It had been in an emergency box in his truck. It was new, with tags on and everything. That took me back to the early trips, when I cooked every meal on that stove. It was the Primus Micro-3211, and it was in so many photos back in the day.
I used not to shoot photos of cooking, even though FreezerBagCooking.com existed. Before social media, it was a different world. The first photo I found was taken in the summer of 2006. We were backpacking cross-country in Seattle Park, at Mount Rainier NP.
Finding a brand new one of that stove made my day—I could use the Gas One in it and know no other fuel had gone through it. The Primus stove isn’t super light, at 3.6 ounces (102 grams), and it needs a lighter, but is well built. And I have it in my hands, unlike my Snow Peak Giga, which is still somewhere in a box.
The one thing I didn’t like about this Primus was the pot supports. It’s fine for a smaller pot, but not good for wide/shallow 2-liter pots. It was the reason I eventually moved away from using it – and went to the SnowPeak or the MSR stoves I often use. But with a smaller pot, it was great.
The fuel canisters showed up two days early, so that was nice. Now, then, the packing? It was exactly like this: no padding, nothing. I am fortunate that the box wasn’t shaken a lot, and there were no dents this time.
The Gas One canisters are small, for sure. However, for a weekend trip, they’re all you need. They are 100 grams, whereas a Snowpeak Giga canister is 110 grams.
They weigh in at 7.1 ounces or 200 grams. To me, this is a great weight. They also fit into many small pots, which is helpful if you carry a smaller pack.
I boiled 2 cups of water, which took 2 minutes and 15 seconds for a hard boil. I had forgotten how fast this Primus stove works. It is very similar to an old MSR Pocket Rocket, for example. The outside temperature was in the high 60s.
It made me smile. I hadn’t realized how much I missed having a “hot” stove. My Snowpeak and MSR stoves are more delicate, sipping the fuel. Sometimes, you want a quick-working stove. Get that water boiled and be done.
The Gas One fuel worked fine; if anything, it was hot fuel, ready to go.
~Sarah