Jetboil? Trangia? Primus? I laugh in your faces!

The lightest, cleverest and most practical camping stove I’ve ever seen can be made by hand from a single empty drinks can.

http://flickr.com/photos/tom-allen/5695356998/

Every so often, simplicity and genius are combined in a way that leaves you wondering why on earth anyone didn’t think of this earlier, and why you’ve never come across such a thing before. This is one of them.

http://flickr.com/photos/tom-allen/5694784533/

It barely tips my kitchen scales. It requires no maintenance. Your camping mattress is the windshield. It burns medical alcohol (a.k.a. surgical spirit) – available from any pharmacy – or gas-line antifreeze, or any other highly concentrated ethanol/methanol you can get your hands on. And you can make one in a few minutes with a knife, a pop-can and a bit of ingenuity.

http://flickr.com/photos/tom-allen/5694817331/

20ml of fuel boils a large tin mug of water in under 5 minutes. Anyone for tea?

http://flickr.com/photos/tom-allen/5695357692/

Read Wikipedia’s article about beverage-can stoves and the multitudinous variations on this basic design.

(If you’re looking for something a little more robust, check out the MSR Dragonfly.)