For folks looking for hot eats in the field, but not wanting the huge noise signature that most backpacking stoves provide, you might want to consider the Brasslite Turbo II alcohol stove.  It is a TINY unit weighing an ounce or two, made mostly of sheet brass and some steel mesh as a pot stand, soldered to the stove unit.  You'll not be boiling large amounts of snow for water or cooking for a dozen on it, but you can cook for one or two.

The unit is dirt simple with only one moving part, a simmer ring around the body of the burner that slides to cover the burner holes, cutting back the air supply of the stove.   It'll boil 2 cups of water in under 7 minutes with no noise and no smell.

The downside, cost.  Brasslite stoves are handmade by a professional jeweller who also happens to be into lightweight backpacking.  Workmanship is top notch.

The trick with alcohol stoves is that to get fast, efficient burn out of such a low BTU fuel, you need to get airflow right, the distance from the burner to the bottom of the pan, and even pan size properly coordinated.  Brasslite has done that for you, so the stove is danred near foolproof.  Mated up with properly sized titanium or aluminum pot and windscreen, this stove will do the job and stealthy style.   The price right now is about 70.00 shipped including a fuel bottle that makes measuring out the right amount of fuel foolproof. Aaron Rosenbloom, the manufacturer, will be farming out the work on these stoves overseas to speed production and lower the price, but he's still working on getting the quality of the overseas production up to snuff. When he does, the price should drop be about 20 dollars, based on his previous designs.

Brasslite is currently selling off it's supply of it's previous stove models, the Micro and Duo.  These stoves are a touch heavier and use a pressurized, double wall design.  They boil just a touch slower, but are still very good.  You could buy two DUO's for the price of the Turbo II.  The Micro is comparable to the Turbo I and the Duo is comparable to the Turbo II.

Anyone who is averse to supporting the development of capitalism in Vietnam should not buy either the Micro or the DUO which are handmade under contract, by jewellers in Vietnam. Currently the Turbo models are made by Aaron in the USA.

One of Aaron's biggest boosters is currently deployed to Iraq as a senior CAV NCO.  He is testing ultralight gear while over there.

[url]http://www.brasslite.com[/url]

You ought to post this in the survival forum too.

You can also make a cheap version of that out of a Pepsi can
[url]http://www.pcthiker.com/pages/gear/pepsistoveinstruct.shtml[/url]

Hell of a lot quieter than my MSR Dragonfly. That damn thing sounds like a jet engine