Everyone at 50 Campfires and all our readers have at least one thing in common, we all agree campfires are awesome. However, sometimes problems get in the way and prevent us from having them as often as we like. Maybe you are on the road or camping on the beach. Not having campfire makes the experience less enjoyable — duh! Sure, there are many portable campfire gadgets out there to help out, but how many of them actually work well? We at 50 Campfires set out to find a solution for this dilemma once and for all. We reached out to Leo Knight the creator of Campfire in a Can to tell us how this great product truly is a versatile and portable campfire and stove.

What is your backstory?

When my wife and I sold our home to travel across North America in our motorcoach, I knew that having a campfire was going to be a key part of the experience. I’m a sucker for gadgets, so I went out and bought the best portable campfire I could find. I bought one with all the bells and whistles, but unfortunately, it didn’t work very well. I wanted to give up on the “Big Green Monster”, and not use it, but my wife insisted that we were going to have campfires.. and that I would have to “figure it out”.

What motivated you to develop the wood-burning Campfire in a Can?

After purchasing the “best” product on the market, and finding that it simply didn’t work how I had hoped, I was frustrated. It seemed like the designers of these portable campfires didn’t actually use them themselves, or they would have changed the designs significantly. My goal of course, was to make my wife happy by having campfires, and to do that, I had to design a campfire that actually worked. And now, we’re funding that design on Kickstarter. It’s very exciting to see it come to life.

Can you describe your products and its uses?

Campfire in a Can manufactures high quality portable campfires (both wood and propane) designed to make the campfire experience easy, fun, and safe. Our products can be used at the beach, in the backyard, at the campsite.. anywhere you want to have a campfire!

Can you explain how can design is better versus traditional campfires? What are the benefits to the user?

The different shape, size and design of the Campfire In A Can burner allows all the elements that make a great fire to come together.

Heat Distribution / Fire Visibility

A compact diameter vertical burner design transfers heat from the campfire to the burner walls efficiently. The burner walls then radiate that heat outward. In addition, direct heat from the fire flows out through the air intake holes along the sides of the burner. The vertical burner design produces a large hot flame pattern at the top of the campfire/burner.

Fuel Positioning

Fuel is strategically positioned and burned in the upright position. This is the most efficient way for solid fuel to burn.

Draft / Airflow

The movement of air that is created when hot air leaves a campfire draws in fresh combustion air to the fire. The trick is to accelerate the out flow of hot air while accelerating the inflow of fresh combustion air around the fuel. Our burner design accomplishes this balance perfectly.

What makes this product unique compared to the competition?

Our canister system really sets us apart from the competition. Just grab your Campfire In A Can and head out, it’s as simple as that, no looking around for parts or pieces. Our design makes keeping everything together a breeze. It’s designed to house all the parts inside the canister. This also makes storage, whether on the go or at home, easy. You have a clean canister to stow away, no messy dirty parts to deal with. Enjoy your campfire where you want it, and don’t be stuck with the location of a fire ring.

The unique canister and base design allows the fire to be quickly and safely extinguished by placing the canister over the base. Once the canister is snapped down the fire goes out and no smoke or debris can blow around. No air, no fire. All remains of the fire are safely contained inside the canister until properly disposed of. We’re sure Smokey the Bear would give this feature two thumbs up.

Many campsites and beaches restrict open, uncontained fires and require the use of raised fire pits. With Campfire In A Can you are good to go. Our design is considered a contained fire and using the stand to elevate it off the ground keeps you in compliance with the raised fire pits only rule. Once cool it is easily stored leaving no trace of a fire behind.

Cooking can be just as fun in your own backyard as it is when you are at a campground, so we’ve included the tools you need to make it easy, whether you’re cooking over charcoal or wood coals. This campfire goes from campfire to cooking and back again, simply and easily.

Use the grill to throw on some burgers or foil dinner, use a dutch oven, or create some awesome shish kabobs using the skewers. You can also whip up some bacon and eggs in a big skillet using the cooking grate. Nothing beats campfire cooking in the great outdoors.

What do you hope to accomplish with the kickstarter funding?

We’re like any small business when it comes to bringing a concept to the marketplace, you need funding to get started. We’ve done all of the testing, so this funding will be used for tooling and manufacturing costs.

What do you think the next invention will be for Campfire in a Can?

Right now, our full focus is the Campfire In A Can products we are currently working with (wood and propane). When we get a chance to relax, I’m sure we will come up with more ideas.. that’s for sure!