Because a canister works on the pressure of its own contents, and that pressure falls both as the air cools and as the canister empties. It is a property of the fuel system rather than a fault in the burner, and the specification that describes it is the published gas mix.
What is happening inside the canister
A canister holds fuel as a liquid with vapour above it, and the stove draws the vapour. The pressure of that vapour is set by temperature: warm canister, more pressure, more gas to the burner; cold canister, less. The stove instructions are the authority on how the equipment should be handled in cold conditions.
The same effect appears as the canister empties, because the remaining liquid cools itself as it evaporates. That is why the last third of a canister feels weaker than the first, and why a half-used canister on a cold morning is the combination people notice most.
The gas mix is the published figure
Makers state the proportions of propane, isobutane and butane in a canister, and this is the specification that describes cold behaviour. Butane-heavy mixes lose pressure as the temperature drops; the other components hold pressure to lower temperatures. Where a canister publishes its mix, it is worth reading before a shoulder-season trip and worth comparing between brands on the same shelf.
Note that the mix does not change what the canister weighs in useful terms. That figure is the net gas weight — commonly 100, 230 and 450 g — and it excludes the steel shell, which the gross weight does not.
What stove designs do about it
Three arrangements appear on the specification sheet, and each is a stated feature rather than a promise.
A pressure regulator, fitted to some upright canister stoves, holds the supply to the burner steadier as canister pressure varies. Makers who fit one say so.
A remote-canister stove sits the canister to one side and connects it by a hose. Some of these are designed to be used with the canister inverted, feeding liquid fuel to a preheat tube, and the maker states clearly whether its stove is one of them. That instruction is not transferable between models.
A liquid fuel stove is pumped rather than pressurised by its own contents, which is exactly why it is bought for cold weather — at the cost of weight, priming and maintenance.
Comparing stoves honestly
The published figures are the stated output in watts and the boil time with the water volume it was measured for. A boil time without a volume beside it is not a number, and neither figure was arrived at on a cold hillside.
Read them as a way of ranking stoves against each other. Then read the practical facts: weight, whether a piezo igniter is fitted, the pot support width that decides what will sit on it without tipping, and whether the stove simmers or only boils.
What this page will not tell you
How to warm a canister, where to keep one, and how to operate a stove in low temperatures are matters for the manufacturer’s instructions. So is ventilation, and so is the question of where a flame may be lit at all — that is set by the stove maker and by the rules of the site or country you are in, not by a comparison page.
Read the stove manual and the canister label, and follow them. They are written by the people who designed the seal, the valve and the burner.
The manufacturer's own instructions come first, and this page does not stand in for them. Every weight, packed length, hydrostatic head, denier, micron rating, lumen figure and temperature on this page is reported from the manufacturer's own documentation, with its unit written as published, and named as such — none of it is measured here. A weight is reported as the maker counts it, and is never restated as another kind of weight, because the two are not the same figure. And for anything with a flame: a stove and its cartridge are used as their own instructions say, and nowhere else. Thread compatibility, ventilation and where a stove may be lit are set by the maker and by the site you are on, not by a comparison page.
What people ask before buying
What is a pressure regulator for?
It holds the gas supply to the burner at a steadier pressure as the canister pressure varies, which is why makers who fit one say so on the specification. It is a stated feature to compare between stoves rather than a cure for cold, and the maker's own wording is the place to read what it does.
Does a nearly empty canister behave like a cold one?
The two produce a similar symptom. Pressure falls as a canister empties and as the air cools, so a half-used canister on a cold morning is the worst combination. It is worth knowing which of the two you are looking at before blaming the stove.
Last reviewed 6 September 2026