Why the Solo Stove Is Our Top Pick Smokeless Fire Pit

My favorite way to wind down a dinner party with friends is to sit around a fire pit, with faces aglow, laughter low, and maybe some marshmallows on sticks for dessert. But the old saucer-shaped steel pit we kept in our small San Francisco backyard produced so much smoke. Despite the regular ocean breeze, we could never really predict which of us would get hit with the next eye-watering gust.

I figured that was just the way things had to be. Until, arriving at a friend’s house one night for drinks, I saw a group of people out back, gathered around a shiny cylindrical object full of flames but emitting not a whiff of smoke. My friend explained that the Solo Stove Bonfire 2.0, a double-walled stainless steel fire pit, was designed to create a secondary combustion, essentially burning off most of the smoke before it reached us. I ordered one the next day.

This fire pit’s simple form and stainless steel finish could be exactly the minimalist effect you want, or you may think the pit looks more like a dryer drum. Either way, this is a lightweight fire pit that you can drag out to use and then hide away when it cools off.

I’m the editor of Wirecutter’s outdoors section, and a couple of years later, with the pandemic lingering on and on, I assigned senior staff writer Kit Dillon to look into smokeless fire pits. He researched all of the options, tested the best candidates, and published our guide to the best smokeless fire pits in fall 2021, just in time for cool-weather socializing. And, yes, the Solo Stove Bonfire ended up being one of our two favorites. (The Bonfire pictured in this guide is editor Daniela Gorny’s, from 2018, and she says it’s still holding up great in the high desert.)

First of all, it works. To be honest, most of the smokeless fire pits we tested worked just as well, since they all use the same double-walled system. But the Solo Stove Bonfire is very portable, so it doesn’t have to occupy your backyard 24/7. If you buy the add-on stand, you can even use it on a deck.

In mid-2022, the Solo Stove company updated its line of fire pits, adding removable ash pans and grates, which make the fire pit easier to clean. (You have to tip the original model upside down to get the ash out. Though the Bonfire is light enough for me to lift, I still find this to be an awkward, messy task.)

The first time my partner and I tried to use our Solo Stove Bonfire, our fire created clouds of smoke (sorry, neighbors!). What were we doing wrong? Not following instructions, it turns out. Solo Stove says you should use firewood that’s cut short enough so the pieces don’t stick up out of the fire pit’s mouth, above the holes that help the hot air circulate. (Our logs that first night were, I’m sure, too long.) If the size of your firewood is non-negotiable, the Bonfire’s larger sibling, the Yukon 2.0, can fit longer logs more easily. It’s also more expensive, of course.

And no “smokeless” fire pit is truly smokeless—most of them eliminate about 70% to 80% of the smoke. The secondary combustion takes a little while to kick in, and you will see smoke during that time. To shorten it, you want to get the fire good and hot. We have learned to prime our fire with plenty of fatwood kindling and newspaper, and within 10 minutes, the fire’s roaring and the smoke has vanished.

I’d also recommend getting a spark screen (pictured in the above photo). That first pandemic Christmas, my brother and I bought a Bonfire for our parents, who live in New England, so they could visit with friends safely. At our next Zoom get-together, we were so happy to see them sitting next to it in their snowy backyard—until, that is, we watched sparks fly out and land on our dad’s parka while his attention was focused on us. We didn’t wait until the next Christmas to order a screen.

Empty the ash out regularly. And if there’s any chance your fire pit will get wet, don’t leave it uncovered (ash mixed with water will corrode the steel interior). Solo Stove sells waterproof polyester covers and metal lids. Or you could do what I did and buy a metal lid for a 20-gallon garbage bin at your local hardware store. It works just fine.

This article was edited by Annemarie Conte.

Christine Ryan

Christine Ryan is a senior editor at Wirecutter overseeing the teams that cover travel, outdoors gear, beds and linens, home decor, and more. (She also edits and writes about cycling equipment, which gives her an excuse to sneak away from her desk and go for a ride.) Previously, she was an editor at European Travel & Life, Gourmet, and Sunset.

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