So there's people being stabbed all over the place and they're actually bothered about people using what they deem to be the wrong camping equipment. This country really is in trouble.

They got us through the shitstorm that was the Falklands, so sod'em.

Loved my Hexi stove, never a problem in two decades of Army Service, just don't cook in your tent, unless you are Military Police and have had your cerebral cortex removed

Back in 2017, I was cooking some bacon and eggs, in Ashdown Forest, Sussex. Two female dog walkers reported me to a warden, who swiftly arrived on the scene to tell me that I wasn't allowed to use a camping stove between certain months. I was using a Coleman Dual Fuel stove. It was a damp morning, so no chance of setting the forest alight, but he told me I could cook in the back of my van. I could see his point if I'd lit a fire, and the undergrowth was dry, but he couldn't see my way of thinking. Anyway, he drove off as soon as he'd gone, I finished my cooking where I'd started. There are so many people looking to grass on others.

We are policed by consent….. most of us do not consent to our current police !

Banning Hexi blocks ? Yep, I'm ex army, Royal Anglian. So pleased I emigrated many years back. Britain has become a nightmare.

Politicians make these idiot laws. I suggest that being a politician should be made a crime with a minimum sentence of ten years with no parole.

Hexi saved my life in a blizzard with a broken ankle on the Brecons without it i would not have hot brews to keep me going, oddly enough my father suffered the same injury nearby when he was in the TA. I still use the old hexi stove he had but with different fuel and i also use the BCB with Firedragon. I find putting a little cooking foil into the bottom where you put the fuel gel stops me having to clean up the hard black mess it leaves behind, and it can easily be put into a trash bag to take home. I painted the bottom of my mess tins with heat proof paint because the black gets hotter quicker and boils faster, i also have custom lids that i got on ebay, same with my BCB mugs and stand. Threatening people with prison over something so petty, when a simple explanation would advise them to trash them safely is overkill and unwarranted. There are far more important misdemeanours and crimes to be dealt with

Oxalic acid has been banned as well. It's now illegal to possess rhubarb.

this along with knives and forks can get you arrested in UK. we have no legal rights ,just things that haven't been banned yet.

Soon leaving your house will land you in jail the way things are going lol.

Well it doesn't seem to have been publicised widely. You can find them still for sale on plenty of UK sites .

The reason that they don’t want people to have hexamethylene tablets is because you can make hexamethylene tetra amine. You mix the hexamine tablets with hydrogen peroxide and add citric acid and it makes a primary explosive for blasting caps. You also can make cyclonite for C-4 explosives. Hexamine can be made by mixing formaldehyde and ammonia together to get the hexamine condensation product. This is the same BS as why they said that methyl ethyl ketone was carcinogenic. Because people could mix it with hydrogen peroxide and at a few drops of sulfuric acid and make a primary explosive. If the government realized that C-4 could be made from apples, and it can be, fucking apples would be illegal or found to be carcinogenic.

I guess the police have solved all other crimes, stock up now and tell them bollocks

Single use plastics, forcing them in where they never were before. Priceless.

Prisoners talking: I was found with indecent images of children on my computer and got 4 months. I sang a Christmas carol in a public place and got 12 months. I had a hexi stove....got 2 years.

A lot of Military people are going to be in trouble then!! this stove is part of their 24 hour ration pack when they are on exercise!!

The police dont know current laws let alone new ones relating to camping.

I think the law prevents businesses from buying or selling without a license. As I read it, not a lawyer, it isn’t illegal to have them. Just buy or sell them.

TWO YEARS for having a few hexi blocks??? That’s insane!

In a dystopian world is there anything that won't land you in jail?

The blocks themselves can be used to make explosives that is why the Uk government has banned them since October the metal stove itself can still be used

I guess I’ll have to burn mine 😂 😂 😂😂😂

Heating rations on hex stove with your SA80 (I did my 3 star shoot so I had an LSW), is just so nostalgic! The good old days of cadets!

You took me right back to the mid 80's with this. Hexi Blocks and 24 hour rat packs...

Sod that. I have been using hexi since the 1980's when I was a squaddie, now a civvie I still use them when out and about on a wander in the hills. If they want to nick me, I will be in a valley far, far away from any roads, etc. burning the evidence (for a nice brew) and they can come and find me (if they can, out of their nice warm patrol car). At least you can also burn the cardboard wrapping on a box of hexi blocks,so no waste. You can't burn that plastic crap on the Fire Dragon Tablets, so much for no waste and saving the envi.ronment.

They dont come wrapped in an England or union flag,so the police wont bother you..i certainly wont stop using them from my local army&navy store

After 8yrs in the service, I can’t believe this!! I now live down under and can pop to Bunnings, or the local shop and buy Hexi firelighters by the box!! Nuts!!! 🤦🏻‍♂️

Reminds me of the time I asked for TWO boxes of Paracetamol at a pharmacy before going motorhoming on the continent. Being prepared gets you a stern look from a pharmacist. Likewise when I was doing some fiberglass work. Only acetone I could get was a tiny bottle of nail polish remover. Oh, well. Single use brushes. Back in the day, when I was doing a LOT of fiberglassing, I had a 25 litre drum of the stuff.

The prisons are full, are they going to release a serious criminal to lock up someone for using a stove?😳😂😂😂

I've never heard of this law change. I don't bother with gels, making my own is cheaper and they last longer. Wood shavings and wax

its a precursor chemical used in the manufacture of a couple of quite destructive materials

I can remember in my army days substituting hexamine blocks for Kendal mint cake. The new recruits struggled to light it and the rest of us rolled around laughing. I suspect one would need a lot of it to make an explosive powerful enough to cause harm. Additionally, why is it only in 2023 someone thought of banning it? Cheers 👊

Imagine being in prison between murderers and rap!sts for this.....

recently accured a uk army mess tin set. now i wanted a lid for each pot. went to my local grocery store. got at least 2 of the heavy foil pans. marked out the size of the mess tins on the heavy foil pans than cut them out after making sure they where at least 1/4 in - 6 mm larger on each side. put the cut foil on top an folded the edges over. store on top of each pan folding the handles over.

I used to wipe solid hand soap over the base of my mess tin before cooking, came off very easily.

So explain, as this is the first I've heard of this law. Why is owning a standard army issue hexi block stove suddenly illegal? Surely the aluminium stove itself is harmless? Also the actual hexi block itself is just a simple fire lighter exactly the same as what they sell for the quick start of wood stove burners which many country houses still use? How is the law being broken? How are these materials suddenly after decades of safe use all of a sudden a big problem to the law?

The Army used them for years I've still got some I my shed , great little bit of kit .

A purpose-built stove can still cause fires if used irresponsibly, but personally I'm more worried about single-use bbqs being left at beaches and woodland. Horrible things need to be banned

Whatever the reason they have for making it illegal who on earth is going to police it because you can't get a policeman out to your house after a burglary let alone you cooking on a stove in the middle of nowhere.

The laws of this land have become absolutely ridiculous, I take no notice of the law anymore and go of common sense I will not be controlled

It's not the stove, it's the fuel tablets that came with them. You can now buy alternative solid fuel tablets that are OK. Stoves are not illegal.

A lot of people use those fuel tablets for miniature steam engine models. I wonder if they are allowed to use fuel tablets for miniature steam engines. Thanks for the video!

Using a Hexi burner requires a ration-al mindset.

I believe I will be spending the rest of my afternoon reading the comments. We love our "folding pocket stoves." When our troops were little, they were each issued a pocket stove and for practice sessions we used gel alcohol fuel that was purchased in bulk from restaurant and catering supply shops. The gel fuel is intended for use in chaffing dishes and is very reasonable in price. We pack the bulk fuel into cleaned and recycled plastic dish detergent bottles. Each stove has a selection of aluminum bottle caps and small tins to contain the fuel and is chosen to hold the needed amount. The system is easy for field use. We do have DIY liquid alcohol burners for the adults and our maturing older troopers. We like the fact the gel fuel burns clean and does not spread in the event of a tipover the way liquid fuel does. Much safer for practice with the young ones. We would only consider genuine hexamine for serious use in an emergency situation. Hexamine is still the king of fuels for these little stoves. It is prohibitively expensive in our area due to import and VAT taxes, it is not for daily use. My brother-in-law snagged two large bags (200 pieces each) of alcohol cubes from Japan at a surplus auction but we quickly learned they deteriorate rapidly and are no good as an emergency storage fuel even if refrigerated. Now, may I say that the Brits I have known were a rugged, no nonsense group. One was a WW2 paratrooper and had spent time as a POW. He was small in stature but I never saw any of the local punks mess with him where we worked together. He had the "do not F&%K with me look in his eyes." It is true that you get what you vote for. I hope folks in the UK will rise up and not allow their government to treat them as servants & slaves. Take charge and tell those you elect what you expect of them. OK, enough rambling. Watching you from our "secret retirement location" in Bulacan province, on Luzon island, in the Republic of the Philippine Islands. Now, it is time to whack the like button and subscribe.

I did a quick google the other day and there are still camping outlets selling Esbit tabs. I guess eventually customs will stop them being imported and the supply will dry up, but I doubt if there are going to be any prosecutions. I doubt if the Government even know or care about this unintended consequence of the law.

Mess tins are easy to clean with sand or soil. Yep old squaddie.

You didnt say why having hexi blocks could land you in prison

I have a love hate relationship with Hexi stoves, They enable me to do All in Meals when I was on the Army and seemed to have enough to get you through your 24hr rat pack. Hate is I was changing a gas cannister my way as I didn't have a clue what I was doing. Just as the Hexie block was about to go out it caught the gas that had leaked out of the cannister and flames shoot up my legs (bare at the time) taking out my tents door, I had longish hair too. Had as it singed it quite badly, so I ended up with short hair and much to my Dads relief as he had been getting on at me to get it cut for ages. I wouldn't have bothered trying to change the cannister if It wasn't for a friend having an Asthma Attack, and hadn't brought their inhaler. We were going to go and get it for her, but needed some thing to light up our camp as we where camping in a wood not too far from home. I find it daft that they would target something that is very good at what it is meant for and it doesn't burn for that long either. Yet more Over reach in areas that really don't need it.

Ignorance is not a defence in law I believe. But if they don't ban the sales, how can they then say it's illegal? Crazy. Thanks for the heads up. I have used this stove myself. Very practical.

This brings back memories. ACF in the 80's...bought all my stuff from "Callan" and "Soldier of Fortune" in Liverpool. Considered "The SAS Survival Handbook" to be my Bible. :D I got a stack of gear from my mates brother who'd finished up in the TA as well...he gave me a G-10 kip bag and stacks of other kit. Happy times!

Seems the clickbait title triggered everyone, well done.

Surely its not owning the stove thats illegal. Its the blocks. There are any number of other fiels that can be used eith these stoves!

Goverment paranoia - acetone could be used in the same way to produce peroxide explosives. Oops, have I inadvertently made the possession of nail varnish remover a criminal offence.

A used Tea Bag will clean your mess tins better than any cleaning pad.

Individual plastic wrapped fuel cells? That's better for the environment than cutting a chunk of hex off? Wild. Your police don't deal with real crimes anymore, but you know they'll buy some overpriced equipment for their helicopters to sniff out hex tabs or something and swarm your position if you dare carry one.

Why are hexamine blocks still for sale then? Why no publicity? I have 2 kilos of hexamine. (Yes I do know it is a precursor for explosives, but so is aspirin, and many other things not banned.)

So it's not the stove but the hexamine that's now illegal unless you have a license

You've picked a nice day for it...😂

The title is misleading. Owning the stove won’t land you in prison. You just can’t buy the tablets.

Dumped all my hexi fuel years ago cos it's nasty. Use either gel in a foil cupcake tin ( in the old hexi stove) or my MSR petrol stove now Also a good cheaper alternative to buying alcohol fuels is to buy those little chaffing burners used to keep food hot, last time i bought them i got 24 for £5, each one lasts about 3 hours and they come with a screw lid so don't leak

As if the police have time to enforce this May be a water bailiff could say something but i would not worry about using them .

If only there was some way of disposing of the fuel.. ☕️☕️☕️😂

Barry has come a long way from inventing a ski suit that could double as a lightning conductor. Long may he prosper.

This is straight out of the 100ml bottle on aircraft mindset. Just because hexamine can be turned into hexogen(RDX) explosive. Even the little white German fuel tabs are banned as well.

So it’s the hexi blocks that are outlawed not the stoves, the stoves can still be used but with fire jells or similar stuff. So the blocks have been outlawed because that can be used to make bombs

These rules don’t stop you from buying or or a shop from selling hexi tablets. The seller just needs to keep a record of who bought the items and the purpose, if a certain threshold is reached. So if you go into the shop and buy some hexi fuel for your stove and they ask you for ID and what it’s for, produce that and tell them why you want it. It’s a response to previous instances where people have made improvised explosives and not people doing bushcraft, you’re just caught up in it.

The hexi stoves work fine with fire dragon. Been using mine like that for ages.

on to the leagal issue of heaximine. if you have the correct recipe, RDX can be removed from heaximine. this is a primary exposlive. where as the dragon is only using a jellied alcohol. (naplam).

So now instead of hex blocks packed in waxed card that could also be burned as fuel we now are expected to use something that appears to come in non reusable plastic tubs. So much for reducing plastic waste. The new law was not widely publicised. How were people supposed to know about it?

You forgot to tell us why they have been outlawed.

Only in the UK. You must have all gone nuts since I left. Yes the gel is better but making them illegal. 🤦‍♀

I always used a soggy used up tea bag to clean the bottom off my mess tins.

Outrageous 😡 if that's the case will they ban all vehicles as certain people use these for unlawful use ???

So what they're saying is hexamine can be used for explosives..?

Owning the tablets is only a problem if you don't pay the government and give them your details to get a licence, what a con. Vote Reform UK to clean out the Westminster swamp and close the boarder

We used to clean the mess tins with used tea bags.

This also affects those that have Mamod model steam engines, they used the exact same fuel

A hexi block is for cooking food in hot water. It's probably been misused for other purposes as I know from both experiences. It's bloody stupid law's in this country we've got.

Same - I have quite a few, which I can assure the police, I WILL be using.

Hexamine is the base chemical for the production of Hexamethylenetetramine otherwise known as RDX, the explosive used in Semtex, PE4 and most plastic explosives , though banning certain chemicals from retail sale seems pointless as even things like table sugar can be nitrated into nitrosucrose which is as close to nitroglycerin (Dynamite ) as you can get , then there is guncotton which is just nitrated cotton fibre which could be produced from ordinary cotton wool, are they going to ban every substance that can be nitrated ? That's a long list.

Anyone want to buy 20 packs of military issue tabs. Lol .

We use to use them all the time in the Army Cadets in the 80's, I'm sure they still do.

The authorities aren't bothered about people's safety using Hexane blocks as a fuel but they are very worried about people misusing Hexane itself as it's a chemical precursor to making high explosive, hence the ban!

funny a comment i left about squaddies health concerns seems to be shadowbanned

Imagine if the cbdc knows you purchased one lol, purchase while you still can fishing lines hooks etc befor they switch us of with the cbdc.

I have and use both these stoves. I like the fire dragon because the fuel lights easy with just a spark, so it’s a great emergency fire starter. And you can use it as a hand sanitizer for first aid. BUT, I don’t use it in the winter because it doesn’t cook as well. It seems it looses a lot of heat through the bottom since the legs of the BCB stove don’t lift it off the cold ground. No such problem with the hex stove.

Don't know if I believe that I have a bag full of them

Hi. This is a surprise but the hexi did give off cyanide fumes. The Fire Dragon is easier to light however one can't clean the bottom of the mess tin easily with a tea bag like one could with hexi. Thanks for sharing. Stay safe out there

We used them in the Scouts and Venture Scouts, in the 1960s/70s. We also carried a methylated spirits stove with the meths in a glass screw top bottle. Cannot you just use fire lighters instead, or are they the same thing? Long, long time since i used one now.

I used to have one. I bought it in the USA in 1979. It was a nifty bit of kit. It took up no space in a rucksack.

So it's the fuel not the stove? You can make your own fuel blocks with wax, petroleum jelly and cottonwool. From memory hexi tabs stank anyway.

Standard issue in military rashion packs, what's the problem

I remember the good old hexi from the cadets too, good times. How would a standard firelighter block from a garage go for use in a hexi?

I used these back in the mid 60's, worked well, bought them in Army and Navy shops.

i believe the hexamine can be used to make high explosive quite easily.

Used to be issued with 24 HR arctic ration boxes, hexamine stinks.

Sadly not surprised about this new stupid law blessings to you and yours from Southern Oregon

i've got 10 of them...come get me coppers!!!!!!!!!

So what's in the tablet that they don't want you to know about