I have noticed a lot of single burner European stoves on this forum and as a newbie to the forum wondered if there were any suitcase stoves made across the pond.
Villiers made 3 different models - Marvil, Inferno and Farmer's Glory. All petrol, proper 'suitcases', solidly built but absolute nightmares to get to work
@Curious dtovie, Welcome. re your: I have noticed a lot of single burner European stoves on this forum and as a newbie to the forum wondered if there were any suitcase stoves made across the pond. You mention single burner vs suitcase, gives (me) impression you're inquiring about 2 burner suitcase stoves. On CCS examples you have noticed does relate to in gallery there are 3,400 Swedish examples. US is distant second at 1,200 for # of examples. White gas (or kero) 2 burner suitcases however flips that score, there are waaaay more US suitcases (as your topic may have already noticed). If we were to include propane then we find Sweden's Sievert, Primus, Primus-Sivert and Optimus with plenty. To name a few. The #s of propane examples I couldn't guess which has more (US vs Europe). Reason I post, "suitcases" you maybe meant 2 burners... if 1 burners are also of interest, I post to add/mention British No. 2 & 12 seen here: Gallery > Great Britain > Military PS Swedish Military Kokutrustning , again not a 2 burner, it would never be considered a "suitcase" but has similarities with Brit 2 & 12, if you too *like that sort of thing, there are several seen here: Gallery > Sweden > Optimus > Other > here is one: Military Optimus *like... what's not to like : )
British Army No.3 is a two burner in a big case, although the weight of it and lack of handle is stretching the concept of suitcase style portability
@Curious dtovie funnily enough I was pondering this the other day as I was organising stoves in my overspill storage. Why so few suitcase style stoves in Europe when they are hugely popular in Canada and the US? It's certainly true of liquid fuel stoves though not so much with gas powered. Plenty of Tilleys, Camping Gaz, Primus etc double burners that could be considered suitcase style. Anyway here's mine, limiting it to double burners, all of which have been mentioned. Primus 77, Optimus Campingo, Optimus 22 and the Enders 9065D.
I think in the US the use of campers, mobile homes, trailers and backyard cooking was and is way more common than in Europe, so the offer for bigger and practical suitcase stoves. In the end the offer follows the market demand. Nicola
I don't know enough about the popularity of camping in Europe in the past to be sure Nicola but I suspect you are correct. I do know that in my experience camping from the 1970s onwards that folding gas double burners were a common sight on UK camp sites. I had a Camping Gaz model myself, so it would suprise me if there wasn't a decent market for liquid fuel double burners. Another possible consideration is the cost and availability of fuels. Perhaps white gas was easier and cheaper to source than bottled gas in the US and Canada. Perhaps members from across the Pond can enlighten us on that matter.
@Robert Radcliffe Robert I know that camping, in the west side of the world, is an Anglo-Saxon tradition, in fact the first camping club was founded in UK in early 900. So UK and US share this culture that probably became a mobile camping life during the hippy years from the sixties…
In Italy, for example, camping, campers, trailers are a niche. Looking at the European stoves market, I can say that suitcase double burner stoves are almost impossible to find in Italy, Spain, France, Germany and so on… at least in the countries where I usually hunt for stoves… In fact in Italy and France for example is possible to find mainly stoves from the early 1900 up to the 1940… al the camping stuff (Coleman, Optimus, Primus) sold during the 50s and later are very scarce. This means that stoves were used mainly for house cooking, think about how wide is the cast iron stoves market in France for example…
Another example… during the last 5 years I have seen probably not more than 6-7 Primus 96 on sale between Italy and Spain, on eBay and every other online listings website. I say 96 but I could say any portable stove for camping. In Italy tin stoves are scarce as hell, while 2 pints ones are extremely common. In UK probably are listed 6-7 96 every week
@Nicola Francesco Elia what an interesting insight into the availability of certain stove types in Europe. It sounds like I may have got lucky at times, as I've found a few Coleman stoves in France over the years. I've certainly found rarer models than over here in the UK.
Robert, I have seen some “modern” Coleman suitcase stoves also in Italy, but in a very low number if compared to old brassies. These Coleman stoves are from 80s/90s, when the use of Campers in Italy was fashion. Nicola
