Fuel Tablets
Fuel tablets are a lightweight, highly concentrated form of fuel that is most commonly used by backpackers and travellers in camping stoves, though they can be used in solid fuel stoves in the home.
Solid Fuel Tablets
Fuel tablets are also known as solid fuel tablets, hexamine fuel tablets (the latter due to the fact that the main constituent of these tablets is hexamine) and Esbit tablets (though this is a brand name, it has come to be used to refer to all fuel tablets, in a similar way to Hoover being used to refer to vacuum cleaners). They are most often used in outdoor settings rather than domestic settings, though there is no theoretical reason why they could not be used in standard solid fuel stoves, especially multi fuel stoves. It is expense rather than effectiveness or utility that precludes use in the home. In their solid form they are non-toxic, though when burning they give off noxious fumes so should only be used in an area which is very well ventilated.
Being lightweight, extremely efficient and smokeless when burning, solid fuel tablets are popular with backpackers, campers, the military, and people in related pursuits. They are white and crystalline, and tend to burn easily, and have the additional benefit of being very lightweight. All of this makes them perfect for use with small stoves on campsites, on trails, on military manoeuvres or indeed anywhere where fuel must be light, have high calorific content and must be easy to ignite.
Fuel tablets are also commonly used as firelighters for fires built with more conventional solid fuels, whether in the wild, on a campsite or in the home. The fire is built in the normal way (whether using coal and coke, wood or peat), and one or more solid fuel tablets, either whole or broken into pieces, are lit first as a starter. Fuel tablets light easily and will provide enough heat and burn long enough to allow the rest of the fuel to catch fire.
Camping Stoves
Camping stoves are often used in conjunction with fuel tablets. Like them they are lightweight, and they are designed to make as efficient use as possible of this heat source. At base they are simple and inexpensive frames comprising of a tray to hold the fuel tablets between a square or circle of prongs on which the cooking vessel may be placed; more expensive versions can include shields to protect the flame against rain and high winds. They are designed to be quick and easy to use, and their popularity with campers and the military confirms this.