REVIEW. The Kombuis 2.0 by Arnaud: Never buy fuel again?

Since I decided to make the necessary preparations for my wife and children in case not everything in the future would be as self-evident as it is today, I have been inundated with adverts for survival products on social media. One that recently caught my attention, because it looked so beautiful, accessible and simple, was the rocket stove by Arnaud with the resounding name The Kombuis 2.0. Last week I received it and immediately tested it as well.

The advert promised that I would never have to buy fuel again and could heat and cook with small twigs and branches that I can find everywhere. Heating wasn’t immediately necessary given the warm weather, but cooking always comes in handy, so I wanted to test that.

Technical information

We ordered The Kombuis and received the package a few days later. It contained not only the Rocket Stove, but also a pot and a pan that fit on the fire.

Many fans for The Kombuis 2.0

Incidentally, the comments under the advert were also predominantly positive to very positive. It’s small enough to take in a rucksack, although at about a kilo in weight it’s not super light either. You can use twigs that are worthless for an open fire, bringing it to the boil is very quick and cooling down to leave again would also be quick.

The only disadvantage I read is that it’s manufactured in China. Not our preference, but there you are.

Our assessment

Many fine words, but time to find out for myself. We happen to have our own bit of nature to unpack everything calmly and test it. It’s striking that it looks very good. And quickly assembling and disassembling the rocket stove also proves to be simple.

We now leave collecting small twigs to the children. When everything is prepared, a few minutes later, and we’ve pushed some small twigs into our Kombuis, we light the fire with a long lighter. Literally immediately the twigs catch fire and you see how much the design ensures that oxygen is drawn into the little oven. So we immediately have fire and the twigs we have ready, we push in safely and easily from the side.

The fire keeps burning fiercely, despite the ridiculously little wood that we had collected and are using.

Because the fire becomes more intense depending on how the breeze blows into the stove, the flames often also come completely around the pan. The result is a black pan and especially that the iron handle is also hot. A cloth or glove to take it off the fire is therefore advisable.

Since the fire burns so fiercely and you need to put so little wood in it, once you’ve finished cooking the fire is also quickly burnt out safely again. The soot on the outside after cooking is incidentally very easy to wipe away and by the time everything is cleaned, it has also cooled down again to store back in the rucksack if desired.

Promises completely fulfilled

Are we satisfied in hindsight that we let ourselves be persuaded by the beautiful advert and good comments to spend just over 100 euros on this rocket stove? Absolutely! Both myself and the children are really huge fans of this Kombuis 2.0 and we will use it very often indeed.

I also think that this little stove deserves a place in your emergency kit, precisely because the little that you have to put in it to, for example, boil water with it can really be gathered anywhere.

And besides, it’s also just fun for when camping with the children, as I was able to experience myself.