Dean Still and Brad van Appel, Aprovecho Research Center,
January 1, 2002 The Effect of Material Choice on the Combustion
Chamber of a Rocket Cooking Stove: Adobe, Common Brick,
Vernacular Insulative Ceramic, and Guatemalan Floor Tile
(Baldosa) The Search for Vernacular Refractory Materials
Multiple tests of the Lorena stove beginning in 1983 at the
Aprovecho Research Center have shown that placing thermal mass
near the fire has a negative effect on the responsiveness and
fuel efficiency of a cooking stove. In 1996, Leoni Mvungi built
a Rocket stove from earth, sand, and clay that was a replica of
a low mass Rocket consisting of metal chimney parts. His version
weighed hundreds of pounds even though the Rocket internal
chimney was only eleven inches high. Tests of a low mass sheet
metal version scored around 30% fuel efficiency. But the best
result achieved by the Mvungi stove was around 15%. Building
Rocket stoves from sand and clay showed little promise of
improving on the three stone fire which was scoring