Charcoal Hand Warmer (086/365)

It's that time of year again!  :)  The cold season is finally upon us and it's time to pull out the hand warmers.

I've had my share of different types of hand warmers over the years - disposable, reusable sodium acetate ones, homemade ones (that you microwave), and these charcoal ones.  These charcoal ones are pretty bomb.  They get nice and toasty and for the amount of heat you get from it, is relatively inexpensive ($0.25 = 6 hours of "intense" heat).  I think people have problems lighting it because they don't let it smolder long enough before closing the case.

I've had this charcoal one (seen above) since the 8th grade (I'm now a senior in college).  It has served me well over the years.  But I think I will save it for the future as a backup.  Why?  Zippo's finally made their platinum catalyst type ones more readily available and much more affordable than back when I was in the 8th grade.

In 8th grade, if I wanted a catalyst type hand warmer, it would have cost me upwards of $40.00 + the cost of fuel (whereas the charcoal ones were $5.00 + fuel cost).  I couldn't afford that and were extremely hard to come by.  Back then, it was even hard to come by the disposables and I think the sodium acetate ones were only found in chemistry labs.  The Jon-E and peacock brand catalyst ones were hard to find as well.

Fast forward to the present, the Zippos can be easily had for $12.00 shipped and it runs off of lighter fluid.  I'll keep the charcoal one in safe keeping for those days when lighter fluid is scarce around the house.  And if camping, I'll bring it as a backup, especially if I don't want to waste precious lighter fluid.  :D  The charcoal one will still have its place, but I want to keep it around for backup reasons.

I had thought about using up all of the charcoal fuel sticks before using the Zippo, but I think it has its place as a backup warmer.  :)