I am toying with the idea of buying a large enamel coated metal mug from the surplus store. My idea is to use it as both a mug and a pot for heating water. It would serve a double purpose. I could hang it on the outside of my pack so as to save some space, and possibly there may be some weight saving too?? Has anyone tried this or is it a dumb idea? Would it perhaps weigh much more than simply taking an aluminum pot and a plastic mug? Thanks.
I used to carry one (traditional blue with white speckles) but swapped it out for lighter things. I liked using it but found it slid off the slightest incline (bottom is slippery), it dents, and the enamel chips off. On the plus side it conveys a pleasant cowboy feel to the camp. I jumped to a spaceage feel with titaniun.
FWIW I like steel more than aluminum because aluminum burns my lips.
I was concerned about that. I just figured I could cool down the lip of the mug with a cool wet cloth. Or, maybe I could come up with some sort of plastic device that I could slip on the lip of the mug.
One thing good about the enamel mugs is their easy clean coating. I plan on using Esbit this time around and I am told it blackens the bottom of pots. I think it might be easy to clean the black off an enamel coating.
Loc: Gateway to Columbia Gorge
I drink hot tea out of my titanium pot with no problems. For some reason, Ti is cool as long as you don't touch it where the hot stuff is inside. In fact, I can grab a pot of almost boiling water with my bare hands, as long I keep my hands above the water line.
That's undoubtedly why Ti is no good for regular cooking--it doesn't spread the heat. I rehydrate my home-cooked-and-dehydrated food in a freezer bag, so my Ti pot is used only for boiling water.
As a teenager, I found an enamel cup-one of those pretty blue speckled ones-next to a snowbank on Mt. Ethel east of Steamboat Springs, CO. I had the cup for many years!
Edited by OregonMouse (08/11/1001:05 AM)
May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous, leading to the most amazing view--E. Abbey
Loc: Maine/New Jersey
I saw, and jeez I cant remember for the life of me where, someone using a metal mug for cooking, and when they went to use it they put a rubber band type thing on the mouth of it to keep there lips from burning...
I use a titanium Snow Peak 700 mug. I love it. It cools quick, has markers to measure liquids, and a strainer for pasta.
"To me, hammocking is relaxing, laying, swaying. A steady slow morphine drip without the risk of renal failure." - Dale Gribbel