Rather than a review this is just my experience trying to make some survival-style Ramen on my porch today. I’m not an expert in these matters by any means, just a suburbanite that’s been camping a few times but wants to be more self-reliant via some basic EDC and knowledge.

You’ll notice I didn’t call it Esbit vs. Wetfire, and that’s because rather than saying which one is “better,” I am just sharing my findings on my particular needs today.

Conditions in Houston today are HOT (currently 102 degrees F) and slightly windy.

Items used in testing:

Wetfire Stove & Tinder tablets
Esbit Stove & Fuel tablets
Strikeforce Fire Starter
Leatherman Sidekick
Small coffee can
Bic Lighter
Zippo (butane torch insert)
Ramen Noodles (beef)
Beef Jerky

My goal was simply to make some Ramen noodles on the porch with either or both stoves. Beef jerky added for flavor.

The Wetfire Stove claims to boil 1 cup of water in 5-6 minutes. For Ramen Noodles you need 2 cups, but I wanted to give it a shot anyway just to establish some baseline knowledge for myself.

One cube of Wetfire Tinder did not even get close to boiling 2 cups of water in my small coffee can. I tried using two cubes of Wetfire, and it seemed to do a little better, but the hottest temperature I recorded with the food thermometer was ~160 F.

Rather than continue burning through Wetfire Tinder, I decided to break the Esbit Stove out of my BOB for a test. After finally getting it to light, the Esbit fuel seemed to do a little better than the Wetfire, getting to ~160 F with only one tablet (I used fresh water from the tap if you were wondering).

About that time the Esbit tablet was almost gone however, and I decided to drop a second tablet on top of the first with my trusty sidekick, Mr. Leatherman. A few minutes later I did achieve boiling temperature, so I dropped the noodles in.

At that point I just let the second fuel tablet burn out and then added the seasoning packet (plus jerky). Ramen achieved! (Sidebar: does this look like a map to anyone else?  )

Things I learned:

– Neither fuel source lit up as easily as I expected. The Wetfire was fairly simple AFTER I remembered to scrape some shavings first, but apparently the Esbit Fuel cannot be lit with a fire steel (this is through my experience + some googling after the fact). I finally had to just hold a lighter on it. In a survival situation I could have lit some alternate tinder (lint, small branches, etc)… if for some reason I didn’t have my bic 

– If boiling more than a cup of water I will definitely have to feed the fire somewhat. I would have done that in the wild/in a survival situation, but I did not want to do that on my patio–plus, I wanted to see what the fuel(s) would do by themselves.

– TEST YOUR GEAR! Secondhand/theoretical knowledge is useful, but not nearly as useful as trying it yourself. Besides what I learned about the stoves, I figured out that I don’t much care for the Strikeforce. Its design kept getting in the way–cord & secret compartment lid kept moving around, which I found annoying. It worked, but next time I’ll test one of the blanks I ordered from firesteel.com (no affiliation).

– If I were going to EDC a coffee can for this purpose I would add a handle with some wiring/coat hanger/etc. Grabbing it with the Leatherman works okay but it only takes a small error to spill your can. Especially since…

– The surface on both of these was problematic for my simple metal can. I couldn’t get it centered on the prongs with the Wetfire stove, and I don’t know WHAT is up with the surfaces on the Esbit, but it was worse. Both actually seemed stable but I kept worrying that any small gust of wind would knock the can over because they were so precariously balanced. I might actually just jam the Esbit stove into the ground and use it upside down next time.

– My butane torch lighter (primarily cared for style & paracord–I always EDC a bic) is INVISIBLE in the daylight, which is infuriating if you are trying to use it to start a fire! 

– I won’t rely on either fuel source alone, and they both have pros/cons. Wetfire is lit easier, while Esbit seems to burn hotter. Also keep in mind you can use either fuel with either stove or on their own.

Anyway, hopefully this was helpful or at least entertaining to someone. I know I had fun!