GEAR REVIEW: VARGO TITANIUM HEXAGON WOOD STOVE

A wood or pellet-burning stove that doubles as windscreen.

Diehard ultralighters scoff at carrying fuel canisters, which become dead weight when they’re empty, and liquid fuel stoves, which are heavy and bulky. After some practice, I grew to love this simple cooker for its versatility: I could use it as a wood or pellet burner on fair-weather trips, but also as an impenetrable windscreen for my alcohol stove (just set it inside) on wet trips, when I knew that finding tinder would be challenging. 

The Hexagon consists of a base and a hinged windscreen, which also acts as the pot supports. Cooking with wood (and alcohol or fuel pellets) requires patience and concentration, to be sure. By feeding one dry, skinny branch the length of my arm and a pile of twigs and finger-size pieces of wood through the hinged door, I brought a creek-cold liter of water to boil in less than half an hour. For long trips without resupply, or if you just like the primeval art of fire cooking like I do, this stove does its job, and packs flat to take up minimal space in your pack. $60; 5.2 oz. (including case); vargooutdoors.com.

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