If you’ve been paying attention to advertisements at all this holiday season you’ve likely seen ads for the Solo Stove. They are all over Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and every other social media. Their commercials are playing during NFL and college football games. I’m pretty sure they’re also just showing up at everyone’s house with one and begging you to buy it.
[photo taken from Solo Stove website]
I absolutely love sitting around a fire on a chilly night. It’s one of my favorite things in the world. The conversations that can be had around a fire don’t happen anywhere else. If you’re sitting around inside you’re likely to turn the TV on and watch some Netflix before bed. You don’t really talk. You just sit. But with a fire you’re forced to have a conversation. And, because a fire is so mesmerizing to look at, you don’t have to look at the person you’re talking to. Which actually facilitates more honest conversation since you’re not trying to read facial expressions.
But the one drawback of fire pits for me is the fact that I am very allergic to smoke and ash. I still enjoy sitting around a fire, but I can only do it once or twice in the fall and winter because it might mean two or three days of recovery.
The great promise of a Solo Stove is that it is a smokeless fire pit. I know, that sounds crazy. And that’s why I had to buy one.1 Solo Stove claims to be smokeless because it’s unique design creates a “secondary burn.” I could try to explain but instead I’ll copy directly from their website:
As soon as a fire is lit, rising hot air and the absence of oxygen created by the combustion process creates a vacuum at the bottom of the Solo Stove’s burn chamber. This vacuum draws oxygen in through the Solo Stove’s exterior vent holes at the bottom of the fire pit or camp stove, immediately fueling the fire at its base.
At the same time, additional oxygen travels through the Solo Stove’s double walls. This preheated air is then injected into the top of the fire through the interior vent holes, providing an extra boost of already-hot oxygen to further fuel the flame. This results in the coveted secondary burn that makes a Solo Stove fire so mesmerizing and joy to gather around.
All that sounds great, in theory. So I decided to put it to the test, using my very sensitive nose as the true test.
Pros:
It came incredibly fast after ordering. If you’re thinking of a last minute Christmas gift that will arrive on time, the Solo Stove is a great option
It was super easy to set up
They are always running sales so you can get a decent deal on it
It works exactly like they say…if you have the right wood
Cons
It is fairly expensive for a fire pit (though cheap for a smokeless pit)
If you don’t have short enough wood, it’s not smokeless at all
That nice shiny stainless steel gets a patina pretty quickly
All in all, I really like the Solo Stove and it’s been great. But the issue with the log length did cause me some consternation. I tested out the Solo Stove with a bag of logs I bought from Lowe’s and those were short enough. Once I realized I really loved it I needed to buy wood in bulk in order to save money. So, I found a guy selling it at a good price on Facebook Marketplace and I drove up to his house in Mckinney to purchase it.
The neighborhood was a brand new one with perfectly manicured lawns and nice, but cookie-cutter, houses. It was not where I expected to be buying firewood. I pulled up to the house and standing in the driveway was the most redneck man I’ve ever seen. He was in his 60s with ratty overalls on and a t-shirt full of holes. He greeted me with a big smile and said, “Here for firewood? Pull on up here!” with a twang straight out of the smallest Texas town.
Once I got out of the car, I walked into his garage which was packed with stacks of firewood.
“I got white oak here and pin oak back there, so whatever you want.”
I asked him which one burned better and he replied, “Eh, I don’t know. I don’t burn these woods.”
That was encouraging. I went with the white oak because it was closer to my car. I am a wood expert.
As we loaded up the wood he got a huge splinter under his fingernail and spent the rest of the time trying to get it out. I felt bad for him, but I was also happy it happened to the tough old redneck guy and not me, because I would have been howling.
The last thing I was thinking about during this adventure was measuring the wood length. I loaded it up and paid him and drove home, dreaming about all my smokeless, introspective fire pit nights.
Once I got home, I realized I’d made a huge mistake. These logs were all twice as long as they needed to be for the fire pit. I tested it out that night and the result was a smoke-filled fire that caused me to cough and have a runny nose for two days.
That looks cool, but it’s not the way the Solo Stove is design to work. That secondary burn that’s supposed to eliminate the smoke doesn’t happen if the logs are sticking out of the top.
I was stuck with about 80 logs that were entirely too long. I tried to hand saw some of them in half with my terrible saw that I have. I ended up getting so sweaty and tired that I didn’t want to start a fire anymore. They say if you chop your own wood it will warm you twice. But in Texas winters, you really only need to be warmed once.
Instead, I borrowed my neighbors chainsaw and made quick work of the logs. Now, the Solo Stove works exactly as it should and I love it.
I also love sitting around the fire with friends. So if you’re thinking about buying one of these bad boys for Christmas, come on over and test it out with me.
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Yes I did purchase this, it was not sent to me for free.