hi steve e
    i use a vital twig survival  stove with a battery operated fan,, i like the stove,, although a little heavy,
   4/5 stars ,, i got mine from a home hardware store ,,

I have a Bushbuddy, which looks pretty much identical to the solo stove. It's been the only stove I've taken for the last 3-4 years of tripping. The best wood to use isn't really twigs - thicker wood that you've cut into lengths will burn much longer, and you avoid the 'constantly feeding' scenario as a result. I've had few issues with finding wood or keeping it burning, but in truly miserable conditions I haven't bothered trying in the first place, I just dig into my snack food. 

So the twig stove has been my primary - and only - fuel source for years and I have no horror stories to tell. But this year I'm adding a pocket rocket and a small fuel canister to my kit (for shoulder season trips) just in case. The twig stove will continue to be what I use 99% of the time. 

I carry a solo stove for the exact reason you mention, a failure of the main stove.
The solo works fantastic, boils water quickly, but twigs burn very fast and it takes constant feeding ( every 10 minutes or so) to fuel it. Not hard to use in wet weather as long as you have a few pine cones close by, they burn easily, before adding wood. Will smoke and blacken pots in that situation. I camp in the shoulder season, but would almost prefer to cook over a campfire if the pots turn black anyway, as the fire will give off more heat to warm yourself with.
We have a tendency to use the solo mostly on day trips hiking or canoeing away from camp, so we can make a hot lunch and a hot drink.

Echoing what was said above. Start it on twigs, the get a few larger pieces. Once it starts to draw,  it makes good heat and the fire burns longer. Suggest the titan solo rather than the light weight one so you can get more larger pieces in. Still only weighs a pound. I got one cause it’s nice to sit with a fire in the shoulder seasons and it’s not like you would sit there in front of your stove running.  Even though you feed it more than a raging camp fire,  it uses less wood and gets the job done.  My experience so far is that it burns the wood completely. Just light ash left when your done. 

Bottom stays relatively cool, so no scorching  the earth either.  As others have said. Drop a Trangia in and you have primary and secondary cook system.  I don’t have a Trangia yet, but seems like a good option.

Thanks for the info here guys (and thanks for the offer Shawn!).  I'm kind of leaning towards the Solo Stove idea as I think it might be less finicky for 4 season use.  Does anyone ever use the Solo Stove as a portable campfire pit?  I do a lot of hammock camping and I can picture myself tucked under my hammock tarp with a small fire going in one of these....

Again my only concern with this would be when it's pouring rain and everything is soaked...although in Algonquin there's always dry wood you can get from Spruce and Hemlocks I find....

Good to know Shawn thanks!  I'll keep an eye out for sure.

The campfire solo stove is back up on Drop.com Steve is one that big interests you. 

https://drop.com/buy/solo-stove-campfire?utm_placement=6&referer=S6KRU7&mode=guest_open&utm_campaign=Automated%20Daily%20Promotional%202019-05-13&utm_source=SparkPost&utm_medium=email&utm_term=Daily%20Promotional&utm_content=1557747902096.107887514121774447767351

Outside of the conversion Steve I have never had any issues. Shipping is usually reasonable too.

I have never been charged any Duty on any of my orders. No guarantee but I never have..