Luke Cuenco 01.10.24
Solostove has been hard at work quickly and intelligently expanding its lineup of fire pit offerings. While their bread and butter are awesome full-size fire pits like the Yukon and the Ranger 2.0 I recently reviewed, they’ve also been steadily expanding some of their other product offerings to include everything from more hardcore camping pits to weekend warrior stoves like their Pi Pizza oven (which I’ve also reviewed). Over the last year, I’ve gotten a lot of use out of my Mesa miniature Solo Stove pit. However, even the small and compact Mesa isn’t safe to use indoors, and with wood-burning fireplaces becoming increasingly rare in modern American homes, bringing the warmth and ambiance of a warm fire has never been more difficult, that is until now. The Solo Stove Cinder is a truly indoor-safe fire pit that puts out a very respectable amount of heat and is even safe to use to cook food with the right fuel. Today we’ll go over my experiences with the Cinder so far, and give you guys a deeper look at Solo Stove’s latest firey fire pit offering, this time for all the homebodies out there.
More from Solo Stove @ OutdoorHub:
OHUB REVIEW: The Solo Stove Cinder – Perfect For an Evening Indoors
The Cinder is sold for about $50 directly from the Solo Stove website and comes with one can of their smokeless gel fuel. This fuel is allegedly safe to use for cooking small fun indoor snacks like smores. While it might look similar to chafing dish fuel, unlike chafing dish fuel, the TerraFlame fuel is indeed food safe but still produces somewhat of an odor when burning and should always be used in an area with good air circulation.
The Cinder is constructed primarily of a very dense and quite hefty molded concrete cylindrical body which is adorned with some tasteful copper accents for the Solo Stove logo, as well as a nice bamboo base featuring a small hole in the bottom, presumably to prevent people from attempting to pour some sort of other liquid fuel into it.
Outside Fire Experience, Without the Risk
Unlike a traditional outdoor fire pit, pellet stove, or fireplace, the Solo Stove Cinder is about as easy to use as a modern electric heater. The included gel canister should give you about a 3-hour flame. I have been using my Cinder on and off for a couple of weeks now and I would estimate that I’m about to reach the end of my first canister’s lifespan, meaning I think the burn times are pretty consistent and reliable. Even though the Cinder is safe to use indoors, I’d still recommend opening a window somewhere or at least getting some fresh air circulating in the room while you are using the Cinder, as a distinct odor can build up over extended use.
Lighting the cinder is a simple affair. Simply open the TerraFlame Gel canister like you would a can of paint, and use either a match or lighter to get the gel burning. No other tuning or babying of the flame should be needed unless you’re attempting to light the flame under breezy conditions. From what I can tell, an entire layer of gel needs to be heated to a certain temperature for it to remain self-sustaining when there is a lot of moving air around it.
Once the flame gets going, it puts out what I’d call a tasteful amount of heat. If you’re several feet away from the Cinder you’ll likely feel none of its heat. You will however hear the nice crackling of the Cinder, and if you get cozy with it, it’ll be enough to keep your hands warm on a drafty night. While it’s admittedly not a one-to-one replacement for the sound of a wood-fueled fire, its occasional sputters, pops, and crackles are just about as soothing and I found that I enjoyed the background noise.
Perfect for the Patio or the Living Room
I was quite intrigued by the Cinder as soon as it said it used a food-safe fuel. Naturally, one of the first things I did was try to partially melt a small piece of cheese I had lying around on the countertop. While the Cinder can deliver the heat to make smores or even roast cocktail weiners, I honestly felt like I could taste the flame inside of the food I had just heated up.
Perhaps if I had marshmallows lying around, the sweetness from them and the chocolate and Graham crackers might drown out the slight chemical taste that is left behind on the food. This isn’t exactly a knock against the Cinder for its fuel or even an accusation that it’s not food-safe – it’s probably way more food-safe than using some firewood. However, virtually all cooking fuels impart at least a small amount of taste into the food you’re cooking them with and the TerraFlame fuel was no different.
Where I think the Cinder’s capabilities shine, however, are with its Citronella gel fuels. While these treated gel fuels are not food safe, they’re great at keeping a large comfortable barrier between you and the critters trying to crash your nice drink on the porch. If you’re just sitting out back for a quick cigar and a drink, a full fire pit isn’t necessary and the Cinder can easily be lit, and relite time and again without any time-consuming setup. Best of all, they put out an equal amount of heat to the regular food-safe gel fuel canisters.
Final Thoughts
Solo Stove’s heating solutions have expanded to cover pretty much every situation imaginable. It’s a small, pretty affordable way to get that nice comfy feeling of a fire pit, without a lot of the same setup, and also doesn’t require you to be an expert at getting a wood-fueled fire going. While it’s not the perfect heat source for food prep, it can do it in a pinch in an emergency safely and can handle the task perfectly for some sweeter treats during a cozy night indoors or as a nice tabletop accent during a nice night out camping.
The Solo Stove Cinder is a great accent for any get-together if you entertain, and honestly, I think they’d make a great gift for just about anyone. The base unit with the single canister of Gel fuel is $50 and additional gel canisters are about $6.50 a piece depending on the quantity purchased. So for those who enjoy a nice comfy evening in the backyard, or patio, and want that cozy flame, the Solo Stove Cinder is one pint-sized solution that everyone can afford.
