Today, Jetboil announced its latest stove, the Stash. Packing-wise, it fulfills a longtime wish of mine for a stove to accomplish: everything fits in the pot! And very neatly to boot.
I have been on so many backpacking trips where some of the stove fits in the pot and usually the gas canister doesn’t because the geometry just didn’t work out. So, I find something else to stash in there… sometimes related to the stove or kitchen area or sometimes not. Or, sometimes I just can’t be bothered and drop a partially filled pot into my pack killing perfectly good packing space.
The Stash is one of Jetboil’s smallest and lightest options with an 800ml pot, meaning they designate it as a 1+ person stove system. The Stash strays from Jetboil’s signature insulated pots and comes in a stout shape more like the MiniMo.
The 800ml pot holds everything needed to get the stove burning—literally, just add water. The lid has a retainment ring to hold a 100g butane fuel canister and a mini lighter will fit in the concaved cavity under the fuel canister. Then, insert the collapsed fuel canister stabilizer tripod and the regulator and burner into the pot and the lid with the fuel canister fits over it all. Granded, it only fits together when everything is lined up just right and that takes a little practice so be sure to take some time to figure that out before hitting the trail or be willing to budget a leisurely first morning out. Both the pot itself and the burner/regulator storage bag have “How to pack the Stash” instructions printed on them.
The radiator style base of the hard-anodized aluminum pot (Jetboil calls this a FluxRing and is on lots of their products) does a great job of protecting and absorbing as much heat as possible coming off of the titanium burner—75% efficiency. Compared to 30% efficiency from a flat bottom cookware. My testing verified the 2.5 minute boil time for 500ml claimed by Jetboil even out in the snow.
Like the other Jetboil systems, the Stash is designed to bring water to a boil very quickly. The clear lid for the pot attaches very securely and has a small pour spout to make it easy to move the water into dehydrated food bags. Sure, it’s totally possible to boil some pasta in the 800ml pot and then drain the pasta water through the pour hole, but getting the lid off once the water is boiling and then putting it back on when the pot is hot adds some unnecessary logistical challenges… also, the amount of pasta this pot can make is nothing compared to what a larger dehydrated food bag will provide. The same is true with simply making hot drinks—you’re best served with another vessel.
Of course, the Stash burner will connect to bigger fuel canisters beyond the 100g size, but only the 100g size will nest into the 800ml pot storage system. Jetboil claims the system as sold (ie. w/o the fuel canister and lighter) is 200 grams. With everything Jetboil ships in the kit, my kitchen scale shows it to be 232g. Ditch the orange fuel canister stand and the burner baggie and it drops to 198g! On the other end of the spectrum, with everything plus a full fuel canister and the lighter the kit comes to 434g. I’m guessing the only way to shed a few more grams would be to make the pot out of titanium. But then, it would be a bit pricer than the $130 this kit is available for.
The system is not designed to simmer, it’s an unregulated burner designed to crank out 4,500 BTU/h. But we’ve all come up with various tricks to cheat a simmer out of a stove designed to blast the heat. But with just a 100g fuel canister, efficiency is the name of the game, especially if looking to feed two people on this system for a few days.
There’s also a strong kudos to Jetboil for prioritizing eco-friendly packaging for the stove. They used paper and other fiber-based packaging from recycled materials.
If this stove kit fulfills your efficiency in packing and boiling dreams like it did mine, you can pre-order it at jetboil.com now. Curious to know more? Jetboil launched the Stash via their Facebook Page Live Event and have a video of the release there with some of the engineers sharing insight and innovation.
