The Best Tent Stoves: Fiery Warmth to Battle the Cold

Camp Chef Winter Tent Stove

This isn’t some lightweight tent stove that tries to be something it isn’t. It’s one of the best tent stoves because it’s a full-fledged winter tent stove that’s well-designed and does its job perfectly.

One way this shines apart from the crowd is in its thick steel construction. This is built like a tank, and that means the entire wood-fired stove gets hot and radiates heat well. Other products put weight savings ahead of heat retention.

This comes with a major benefit for keeping your tent warm. You don’t need to tend to the fire as often as you do with lighter options. Even if the fuel burns out, the stove itself will emanate heat for a long time.

It also comes with four stable legs, instead of the three found on some other models. Another way that the best tent stove ensures worry-free use instead of an overly minimalist design.

Excellent Customer Satisfaction

The most impressive thing is the customer feedback. All marketing materials can be twisted in ways that make a product seem ideal. The real test is in the field under the hands of people who threw down their hard-earned cash.

I’ve had Camp Chef products for literally years. After my Coleman stove gave up, my Camp Chef Everest propane stove for cooking won me over with its first use. Yet it’s also withstood the test of time extremely well. I am not exaggerating when I say I have made over a thousand meals on it. And counting.

Camp Chef has brought their expertise to the table again with this excellent tent stove.

People rave about the Camp Chef Alpine Heavy Duty Cylinder Stove. It has some of the best customer feedback of nearly any product I have found, across many stones and all sorts of camping gear. This doesn’t happen by accident.

Some of my favorite comments include:

• “Best stove I’ve ever owned.”
• “… a stove engineered by an absolute demon.”
• “… quality product and an extremely reasonable price.”

The negative reviews are extremely limited, much less than the usual 5% or so you can find on even the highest-quality products. The most common issue was a lack of pre-drilled holes where the legs insert, but it still works well as is or you can drill them out yourself. 

Some people didn’t understand that the nesting stove pipe means the pipe is a different width at the stove (5”) than at the top of the vent (6”). The pipes are made this way intentionally so they can fit inside one another to go in the stove for transportation. 

Make sure you cut your tent’s stove jack to fit the size of the pipe where it meets the tent.

Other than that, it’s nothing but rave reviews about how well-built and designed this Camp Chef Tent Stove for camping in cold weather is.

Heavy-Duty Equals Heavy Weight

Some of the stoves on this list fit into the featherweight class like Manny Pacquiao. Not this Camp Chef. This is one of the best tent stoves made from solid steel, basically cast iron. It’s like the Mike Tyson or Evander Holyfield of the wood fire tent stove world.

This uncompromising construction means it’s heavy-duty and can take a beating. Even though some people reported boxes arriving in rough shape, the stove within was still pristine. It should do the same in your storage or while camping.

But that heft comes with weight, a lot of it. The Camp Chef Tent Stove weighs 73 pounds (33 kg).

For most situations where you’re using a tent stove and can drive to the campsite or haul in stuff once and be done, this shouldn’t be a huge issue. After all, many of the best canvas tents also weigh about that much when you include the frame and footprint. 

But if this weight is a deal-breaker, you should go ahead and jump down to the next option because it’s the lightest of them all. 

Fair warning, there are some serious downsides to going with a lighter option. Besides longevity and toughness, lighter options also won’t hold the heat as well. It’s like comparing a cast iron skillet vs. a paper-thin titanium plate. There are pros and cons to each.

Other Features and Highlights

You supply the tent, and Camp Chef takes care of the rest. This wood-burning tent stove itself is the usual cylinder construction found in most of the best tent stoves for camping, but it has a nice flat top. 

You can put your pots and pans on top to use as a cook stove. Like all cast iron, remember that it’ll take a moment to warm up.

On each side of the cylinder, there are two accessory shelves made from wire grates. You can also purchase a Camp Chef Cylinder Stove Hot Water Tank that seamlessly fits on one side of the tent stove. Or you can just use any kettle on top.

It comes with a solid front door that opens wide for easy loading, and there’s a damper built in to control the airflow. This tent stove includes a spark arrestor and internal log grate, filling out everything you need.

If you’re using it inside a tent with a floor, then you’ll want to put down a hot blanket. This NEIKO Heavy Duty Fiberglass Fire Blanket for Welding works perfectly.

Titanium Tent Stove

When it comes to the ultimate camping and backpacking material, it’s hard to beat titanium. It is extremely lightweight but it’s also a strong metal alloy.

By using this material in this lightweight tent stove construction, Danchel Outdoor has created one of the lightest and strongest wood-fired stoves on the market. This is a breeze to bring along on any trip, even hiking to the campsite or backpacking.

Considering this premium material, the price point is still surprisingly reasonable. It is not a cheap tent stove, but it’s not the most expensive either.

Personally, I would much rather go with a thicker construction material that will help retain heat and provide a longer-lasting warmth inside your winter tent. I love titanium for select backpacking gear, like my titanium mug that I use for most camping purposes. But when it comes to tent stoves, I would rather save the money and go with stainless steel for a lightweight option or cast iron for the best warmth.

Ultra Compact and Portable

If there’s one thing that this titanium tent stove does, it’s excel at portability. In addition to the titanium weight savings, it also uses a firebox that is hinged on all corners to fold down flat.

This means it can literally fit into a laptop-sized bag. Even if you’re heading up to your campsite in a small car, you can still bring a tent stove with. That’s a pretty incredible feat.

Danchel Outdoors isn’t the only one that has this type of portable tent stove that packs down flat. But the other I read through had many complaints about the way it sealed, including difficulties setting it up and a lack of overall confidence.

The feedback for the Danchel Outdoor T6 TSG Titanium Wood Tent Stove is much better. Of course it doesn’t quite have the same seal that you will get from a device without the hinges. But it is easy to put together and doesn’t have massive leaks that let out smoke or make it otherwise useless.

The only downside is that this comes with a DIY stove pipe. It comes with a rolled sheet that you need to cut to your preferred size and install rings on. This is nice because you can cut it precisely to your length, but you’ll need to use caution to make it. People had the most success when they used a rigid tube, like a large PVC pipe, to help roll it out.

It really is an excellent portable tent stove that hits the mark for being lightweight yet doing the job it’s designed to perform.

Danchel Outdoor Focus: Canvas Tents and Stoves

This may not be the best-known brand in the camping world. But Danchel Outdoor has a lot going for it if you’re considering a tent stove.

First, it was established in 2013 and has over ten years of experience. Many of the Danchel Outdoor products have a significant number of reviews. It’s not one of those companies that puts out a bunch of stuff and regularly rotates out what doesn’t do well. Instead, it is able to have products that it can keep selling because it keeps customers satisfied.

Second, Danchel Outdoors focuses mostly on canvas tents and tent stoves. It also has some car awnings, which are basically an offshoot of the canvas tent product line. It’s not trying to venture into every outdoor category.

By focusing on these two complementary products, the tent and the stove to go with it, Danchel Outdoors has shown that it can create a comfortable winter tent camping situation. I have reviewed the canvas tents and now I’ve gone through many of the tent stove options. This titanium one is an amazing choice, but they also have others that can do the trick.

You can see more about all Danchel Outdoor offers.

The Best Cheap Tent Stove

I’ll be honest with you, the research for the low-end wood tent stoves uncovered some terrifying results. Improper paint, poor spark control, and downright dangerous situations were all too common. To be blunt, even though this option is fairly decent, I still recommend bumping up the budget for a better one.

But when it comes to budget-friendly options, this one does much better than most. Can you find a lower-priced one? You bet. The issues with many of the cheap tent stoves include:

• Paint or other coatings that aren’t suitable for high temperatures
• Fatal design flaws that don’t allow for smoke-free use inside tents
• Extremely poor construction methods or materials

The paint issue seems to be very widespread. Even when people burned them for 4-8 hours at home before using them in the field, some still had unbearable levels of off-gassing. Shooting for under $100 almost guarantees you’ll get one of these. And you really shouldn’t use that in an enclosed tent.

Since this Lama Camping Tent Stove for winter uses stainless steel, it avoids that paint issue entirely. No low-quality paint or coatings to deal with, but it is still an affordable price.

Another problem is proper airflow through the stove. To function well and provide long-lasting heat, the tent stove needs to function with the door closed. Allowing air to flow into the controlled inlets and out through the exhaust pipe.

This is essential to use a wood fire stove in a tent. If you can’t close it securely with it still running well, it will fill your tent with smoke and fumes. And this happened to people.

My research for a low-priced stove first led me to a different model (listed below) because it has more reviews and is slightly cheaper. However, upon closer inspection, most satisfied customers were using it with the door open because it would suffocate and extinguish itself with the door closed. This might work for outdoor use on your patio, but not for winter tent heating purposes.

This is a safety issue. Not only would that fill your tent with smoke, but it would also be much more likely to let out hot embers.

And once again, the Lama Stove for Camping doesn’t have this problem. Many people report that it works perfectly well with the stove’s door secured and closed, thanks to its well-designed vents and exhaust flue.

Upscale Features and Design

Even though the Lama Tent Stove isn’t the most expensive, it has the looks and features of higher-end models. It’s not a cheap one that sacrifices every creature comfort.

My favorite element is the window made of heat-resistant glass, giving you a nice view of the roaring fire within. It’s like bringing the bonfire to your sleeping quarters.

This portable tent stove also folds down and is fairly compact. The four legs fold up nicely and the side grates that usually act as accessory tables fold up to double as carrying handles. It’s a pretty neat look both in the tent and on the road.

Stainless steel isn’t as robust as cast iron. But it still is a durable material that isn’t going to quickly waste away on you. And since it’s a solid box design, not foldable, it has a nice sturdy construction of the main firebox. This is another area where other cheap tent stoves falter. They’re made with weak hinges and parts that fail.

The other thing to note is that this is on the smaller side of a tent stove. It’s likely better for a tent size up to about 10’x12’ but not for oversized large canvas tents such as 12’x16’ models. It is important to get a stove that is appropriately sized for your tent or else you’ll just waste fuel.

A couple of other nice features for this camping tent stove include:

• 6” chimney stove pipe with built-in damper
• Included ash scraper to help manage the fire
• Large door opening makes for easy loading and adjustments

Winnerwell Tent Stove: Dedicated Expertise

Some camping brands can produce a variety of products with respectable quality. But many of the best products, including the best tent stoves, come from companies who are dedicated to that specific area.

Winnerwell is all about wood-fired tent stoves and fire pits. It focuses on stainless steel construction and puts out products it can support with a lifetime warranty. 

In the few reviews where problems came up, the company was responsive and handled them professionally, making sure to provide a high level of customer satisfaction.

This also means that they simply create a superior product from the start. Every detail from the stainless steel construction to the adjustment of the legs, stove pipe, and grates is done with care. Where you see complaints in other products about the fitment, welds, and other design or construction issues, the Winnerwell tent stoves receive praise.

Take advantage of their expertise and focus on camping tent stoves by getting on from a brand that knows what they’re doing and does it well.

Lightweight and Portable, But Still Large

Weighing just 38 pounds (17.4 kg), this tent stove is portable enough to go along for nearly any adventure. Sure, it’s not the super lightweight titanium, but it’s a great balance that uses quality stainless steel to get the job done.

The legs are another way that it ensures portability. They easily fold down and are stored on the underside of the firebox. The side grates also fold up over the top side of the box. Throw the stove pipes inside along with the internal grate and you have a nice compact package that’s ready to roll.

It also finds a great balance between a large enough size for a warm fire and still portable enough to get packed in with gear. The large model measures 18” L x 9.8” W. And if that’s too big, you can drop down to the medium’s 15” L x 8” W.

The only downside is that stainless steel has a similar issue as titanium. It’s relatively thin and rapidly transfers heat. On one hand, the fire’s warmth goes right through the box and into your tent.

But on the other hand, this thin metal doesn’t retain heat like the thicker cast iron or steel. Instead, it gets red hot and will quickly cool when the fire dies down. This means you will likely need to constantly feed the fire throughout the night if the fire is necessary for your sleeping comfort.

For this reason, I suggest going with one of the best tent stoves from cast iron or thicker steel, like the Camp Chef Tent Stove, if temperatures are going to drop. But for more moderate climates, this is a great way to bring heat and visible flame into your tent.

Feedback and Accessories

This Winnerwell Tent Stove keeps customers happy, plain and simple. I’ve made sure that every choice on this short list of the best tent stoves is high quality, but the lack of negative reviews on this product is remarkable.

And these aren’t paid-for reviews. People have gone back after using it for multiple seasons to pass along the good word. They understand that it is priced high, but reassure others that the value is there. 

At the end of the day, that’s really what matters most. It’s alright to spend money as long as you’re going to get a long-lasting product. Much better to buy it once and have a reliable product than save money and get junk you have to replace each year. This one is worth the price tag.

Another great aspect is that Winnerwell has a variety of accessories for their winter tent stoves. You can get:

• Water tanks for the large and medium tent stoves
• All sorts of different stove pipe fittings and assemblies to match your tent
• Grates, brushes, and even silicone flashing kits

Convenience and Portability

One of the main reasons why it’s uncommon to see pellet tent stoves is that many pellet-fueled grills and stoves require electricity. They often feature advanced temperature monitoring systems and automatic pellet feeders. This is great because they feed the pellets as needed to maintain a constant temperature, perfect for grilling or heating.

But that doesn’t make a lot of sense for camping. Even if you have some electricity, you likely don’t want to keep it plugged in all the time.

Riley understands this limitation and created these tent pellet stoves to run without electricity. It does this by using a gravity-fed system that is carefully designed to allow the pellets to flow at a natural burn rate. Even without the electricity, you still don’t have to manually feed the pellets. It’s quite an incredible system.

These pellet-fueled stoves also feature a patented jet air system with an air-cooled bottom. This ensures that there is sufficient oxygen flowing in to fuel the fire, allowing for heat to emanate off the stove without creating an excessive burn risk underneath.

It produces 8 hours of heat with a 40-pound sack of pellets.

This system does a great job of creating a clean-burning stove that has little maintenance. Simply dump the pellets into the feeder, then let it roar. It also produces minimal soot.

The only downside is that these meticulously designed systems require a specific balance of air and oxygen. Riley states that these are NOT designed to be used at elevations over 8,000 feet. So if you’re thinking of a high alpine adventure, you’ll want to check out the other options on this list of the best tent stoves.

Three Pellet Stove Choices

Riley Stove Company offers three different choices for tent pellet stoves:

1. The City Slicker Pellet Stove: Exclusively pellets, medium-size
2. Wrangler Stove with Pellet Burner: Wood or pellet fueled, the largest size
3. Bullet Stove with Pellet Burner: Wood or pellet fueled, the smallest size

The pricing is all in the same ballpark, so it’s really up to the size you want and whether you want the added convenience of being able to use wood logs in addition to the pellets for fuel. 

For outdoorsmen venturing far into the wilderness, it’s probably a good idea to go with the dual-fuel options. That way if you do happen to run out of pellets, you can still get heat from local lumber.

For those that have immediate access to pellets or know they only want to use it with pellets (maybe you have a different wood fire stove), then you can get the City Slicker Pellet Stove. And don’t worry. You don’t have to tell anyone that’s the name. 

Riley mentions in the FAQs on the website that the galvanized steel comes with a coating. It will liquefy in the first 5 to 7 minutes of operation, then it will become a protective coat over the steel. Like most of the tent stoves, we recommend performing the first burn in a well-ventilated area before you use it in an enclosed space.

The Catch: Fumes and Air Flow

Before you buy this wood-burning stove, there are two things you need to know. First, many reports indicate that it doesn’t use a paint that’s suitable for high-temperature burning. This means you likely don’t want to breathe in the fumes coming off of it, especially the first few times you use it.

To get around this problem, I suggest burning it at an extremely high temperature for many hours in a well-ventilated space. But even with that, it’s likely to continue leeching some fumes, so it’s going to be a personal choice on how to use it.

But there’s a more serious problem, especially if you need a stove to use inside a tent for heating.

Most people say that the Guide Gear Stove does not function if you close the door securely. Even with the damper and vents fully opened, it simply doesn’t allow for adequate airflow. It suffocates and extinguishes itself.

The way that most people get around this is by leaving the door cracked open. This is probably fine if you only want to use the stove outside and while monitoring it. 

But since embers can escape from the door, it isn’t going to do well for tent heating purposes. These embers present a serious fire risk inside of a tent and having the door open will allow smoke to escape into your tent, rather than flow out the pipe flue.

If you’re looking for a winter tent stove, I suggest heading back up to the other budget option on this list. It doesn’t have either of these issues.

Cast Iron Construction

I’m a big fan of cast iron. I cook with it almost exclusively and it works great for tent stoves because it holds heat well. Guide Gear uses this cast iron construction material and still comes in at a rock-bottom price.

The problem is that since the door doesn’t close that well, a lot of the benefits of cast iron don’t exist. For example, it’s usually ideal because you can fill it with fuel, then let it burn slowly over many hours with the door closed for constant heat.

If you fill this up, you still have to leave the door open. That means the fire will likely rage much faster since you can’t control the airflow very well, and you’ll be left feeding it more often.

In that case, I think it’s better to go with a thinner steel option that you can still close the door to. Even if it doesn’t retain heat like cast iron, it’s better than having the door open and too much airflow (or smoke in your tent).

One notable feature is that even though this is cast iron, the legs are removable. This mimics the best overall tent stove on this list, the Camp Chef Alpine Heavy Duty Cylinder Stove. 

Both have heavy-duty cast iron construction with rigid legs, but you can take off the legs for transportation. The Camp Chef also has a nesting stove pipe, so that makes it even more portable. Camp Chef uses removable side grates for more surface area for cooking or drying items.  

I love cast iron and recommend them as a tent stove and for cooking purposes. They’ll not only last longer, but they also don’t have to be fed logs as constantly. If you’re looking for overnight heat, it’s really hard to beat a cast iron option.

But there are downsides. And that’s where the other options excel.

Galvanized steel, stainless steel, and titanium are the other main options for tent wood stove construction materials. The biggest advantage over cast iron is weight savings. These are much lighter. The titanium ones offer an excellent strength-to-weight ratio, but even the other thin steels are incredibly light in comparison to cast iron.

But there are two problems with these. First, the titanium ones are usually significantly more expensive. It’s a premium product. I love titanium for some of my backpacking gear, including coffee mugs and utensils. But I find it a little overkill for a wood fire tent stove. Maybe you need to pack one in on a long hike and it’s worth it, but for other people, it’s just a lot of expense for little payoff.

The second and more common problem with thin steel is that they don’t hold much heat. As soon as the fire goes out, it gets as cold as the ambient temperature. This means you need to feed it logs all night or else it won’t provide any heat. That can be a real issue.

What’s the right call for you? I’d recommend going with thick steel like cast iron unless you need it to be lightweight and ultra-portable. If that’s the case, go with a collapsible lightweight option to bring easily anywhere. 

Portability: Weight, Pipes, and Legs

Speaking of portability, that’s another major characteristic to look for when shopping for the best wood-burning tent stove. The ability to bring your stove anywhere is a higher priority for some, but it’s usually an important consideration no matter where you’re using it.

The construction material typically dictates the weight, with thick cast iron or steel weighing the most, stainless or galvanized steel being much lighter, and titanium being the featherweight champion.

But another part of portability is how it packs down.

For a lot of winter canvas tents, the stove pipe needs to be fairly long to exit the stove jack and emit the hot exhaust away from the canvas fabric.

Does this mean you have to travel with 5 or 6 different pieces of 5” pipe rolling around in your car or truck bed for camping?

Absolutely not. The best tent stoves like the Camp Chef option have nesting pipes, meaning they fit inside one another. Many don’t though. So you’ll have to pay attention to what you’re getting if you need room for other gear.

The other parts of how the winter tent stove packs down are the legs. Some are removable but the most portable tent wood stoves have legs that quickly fold in. The titanium and stainless options usually have folding legs, while the cast iron ones are removable.

If you are capable of carrying over 50 pounds and can drive right up to your tent (or close enough), then you don’t need to be too worried about how light or portable your stove is. I recommend getting a heavy one because it’s more durable and will hold heat better.

But if you need to hike a good distance or don’t want to have to lug around a heavy stove in your hands or vehicle, then a lightweight tent stove is a better choice. Look for the titanium for the premium option, or go with stainless steel to save some cash. Just be careful to avoid bending it and understand that you’ll have to constantly feed it logs to maintain heat.

Overall Design

A wood-burning tent stove isn’t too complex. When it comes down to brass tacks, it’s a metal box with a door, some inlet air vents, and a large pipe to serve as a flue with a damper to help control the air.

Yet this seemingly simple task does require some engineering. The amount of wood, oxygen, ventilation, and exhaust all need to be well balanced.

If you’re looking for a tent camping stove, there’s a good chance that you want it to burn for long periods without much attention. And it needs to burn inside your tent safely.

To make this happen, it must function well with the stove’s door entirely closed. And believe it or not, some of the budget stoves don’t work so well with the door closed. The air doesn’t flow well enough and it suffocates itself.

I’ve carefully selected the options on this list to avoid these problematic wood stoves. But one budget option does have the problem, the Guide Gear Outdoor Stove. I’ve made it clear in the description and think this one is not worth the money.

Another part of the overall design is about the top area of the stove. Not only do these portable tent stoves create heat, most also double a cooking surface. The top needs to be flat to do this.

Some go a step further by including side shelves. This gives you a nice place to put a hot pan once you’re done cooking. 

Others can have accompanying accessories such as a water tank that mounts on the side. They have a little spigot so you can have hot water on top whenever the fire is burning. That’s a pretty neat feature.

Warning: If you get a hot water tank, avoid keeping it full constantly. Boiling water creates steam and condensation, something you don’t want in your tent. Fill up the tank when you’re likely to use it, then move it when you’re done. It’s fine to keep water warm for a few hours, just not 24/7.

Company Reputation

Being choosy about the companies you buy from is a great way to ensure your money is used wisely. The reality is that there are quite a few products made by companies that have no business producing the item. And even worse, it can be quite challenging to determine which has the expertise and which does not.

That’s where you can lean on my research. Here are a few of the things I look for whenever I’m looking for the best outdoor gear:

• Expertise: Does the company make everything under the sun or do they focus on this product line?
• Experience: How many years has the company been around? Do they truly understand camping and outdoor adventure in North America?
• Feedback: Is there a solid track record for this product with many positive field reports?

By combining these three factors, you can have a much better idea of how likely the product is to live up to its marketing materials. 

I place a giant emphasis on the expertise and feedback categories. By focusing production efforts on specific product lines, companies have a much better chance of creating a high-quality product. 

And this either shows up in the customer feedback or the field tests show the problems. By letting hundreds or thousands serve as your test users, you’ll have a much better idea of what to expect. 

This does come with a major caveat though. You have to carefully inspect the feedback and reviews to see why people like or don’t like a product. For example, one on this list has a lot of great reviews, but then I found out that most tent users had major problems with it. This is the Guide Gear budget option where the door can’t be closed.

If you check out a lot of our gear posts, you’ll find that there are many different brands. That’s because they focus on that area. This is something I’ve done my entire life because I’m a little obsessed with making sure to spend my hard-earned cash to its fullest. But go ahead and check out these posts for some great examples of companies that are dedicated to their specific product line: camping air conditioners, camping fridges, and canvas wall tents.

Fuel Source

Nearly every tent stove runs on wood logs. That’s basically what they are designed to use. It’s also what most of us have accessible while we’re camping. And if it’s not local lumber, you can still get small bundles to bring with you from many different stores.

But there is an alternative. Wood pellets aren’t just for advanced barbecues. There are pellet tent stoves that use this incredible fuel source. 

A pellet tent stove needs to be well-designed so that you don’t have to use electricity. This is the usual problem because many pellet grills have temperature monitoring and automatic feeding systems that require electricity.

But Riley Stove Company has made some impressive pellet tent stoves. Two options of the three they make can also run on wood logs, giving you the best of both worlds.

Riley says that a 40-pound bag of pellets can provide up to 8 hours of heat. So it’s not exactly the longest burning and you’ll need to have a lot of pellets around to provide constant heat for an entire camping trip, even if it’s just a long weekend.

Most people are better off going with a cast iron tent stove that burns wood logs. But for those who want to use pellets or have them easily accessible, you do have a pellet tent stove option.