It’s late, you’ve been out winter clubbing, coming home and you’ve missed the last bus. Horror! What to do? Well call a cab of course. But let’s switch scenes and imagine you’re out in the middle of the dark, black forest, it’s -3 degrees, there are wolves nearby and you’re hungry, tired and just a little afraid. And there’s no taxis.
What you’ll be needing, citizen, is a HeatStick flameless portable hot water heater, not just to brew up a comforting cup of soup or coffee to see you through the long, lonely trudge through the trees, but also to use as a handy club should any inquisitive wolf get a bit too close. Of course we’re being fanciful (wolves hate soup) but there’s no question that this nifty gadget is a cool bit of engineering.
It works with chemical reactions rather than flame, which means you can start it off and continue walking with it in your rucksack, rather than having to set camp to brew up, and because it uses gas canisters, you’re free to refill your hot water as much as you like, so long as you have enough water or snow to hand. Marvellous, eh?
The price may suck the air out of your lungs a bit though, since it’s going to set you back $403 for the half liter model, and you’ll pay more for the gas canisters on top. But what price comfy cocoa, folks? Really.