{"id":3684,"date":"2010-06-13T23:37:00","date_gmt":"2010-06-14T09:37:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.studionewmedia.com\/blog\/?p=3684"},"modified":"2010-06-13T23:37:00","modified_gmt":"2010-06-14T09:37:00","slug":"snow-peak-titanium-double-wall-mug-220-folding-handle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/studionewmedia.com\/blog\/index.php\/2010\/06\/13\/snow-peak-titanium-double-wall-mug-220-folding-handle\/","title":{"rendered":"Snow Peak Titanium Double Wall Mug 220 Folding Handle"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"MG-051FH\"<\/a>Coffee is good, and coffee is your friend. When I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m on the road, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s nice to have some hot coffee to shake off the cobwebs and promote a general sense of well-being. To this end, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve been carrying around a 340ml Tiger MSG-350 stainless steel vacuum bottle that holds the equivalent of a large cup of coffee. I bought the Tiger many years ago for carrying coffee while snowboarding, just around the time when the JDM vacuum bottle manufacturers were all moving their production operations offshore, so this is one of the last Made-in-Japan mahoubin<\/em> available. Current Tiger and Zojirushi bottles are from places like Malaysia, Indonesia, and The PRC. Anyway, using the top cover as a cup in the field is fine, but when coupled with vehicle drink holders, it gets tired really fast. Fishing what amounts to a big shot glass out of a hole while driving and not spilling coffee on your hands is not my idea of fun. It was high time for a dedicated cup.<\/p>\n

\"MG-051FH_in_TT10002\"<\/a>\"MG-051FH_w_MSG-350\"<\/a>I have been using some pieces of Snow Peak\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s titanium outdoor gear for a while, so I was familiar with their product lineup and knew they made mugs. Their double wall mugs and teacups were slick and pretty but were on the expensive side. Having no perceived need until now, I never got one. There were myriad choices, with 250ml, 350ml, and 450ml sizes, single or double-wall construction, and fixed or folding handles. Considering their cookpots are designed to nest, and they sell sets of nesting teacups, I thought it would be nice if I could find a cup that would nest over the vacuum bottle and still fit in the Tactical Tailor triple 5.56 magazine pouch that I currently carried it in. The Snow Peak site listed the outer diameters, so I quickly discovered that the 250ml MG-051FH would fit in the pouch, but the 350 was too big. Information on the inside diameters was elusive however. I checked Snow Peak\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s JDM and USDM websites and various online reviews and retailer pages to no avail. I sent a message to Snow Peak\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s USA product information email address and got a quick response from Peggy.<\/p>\n

\"MG-051FH_on_MSG-0350\"<\/a>From what she told me, the inside diameter was around 65mm. The outside diameter of my vacuum bottle at the top was 61.5mm at the top, so I was in business. I checked a couple of online places, but either stock for this item was nonexistent, or shipping costs to Hawaii addresses were obscene. I was heading to Japan for snowboarding, so I figured I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d just drop by the Snow Peak store and pick one up there. It was a pretty small item, so it wouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t be too much trouble to bring back. One free afternoon on the way back from an onsen, I stopped by the Snow Peak store in Shiroishi, Sapporo and picked one up for 3339-yen – cheaper than internet ordering one back home because of the shipping, even if you take into consideration the extra subway fare to make the side trip to the store.<\/p>\n

The mug is solidly made from five pieces of titanium. The body is made from two overlapping flat-bottomed cylinders, probably made by drawing or pressing like how beverage cans or ammunition cartridge cases are made. The outer layer has straight walls, but the inner layer has an outward radiused flange at the top to bring its edges to the same diameter as the outer layer. The two layers are welded together at this contact point. Since the OD is around 71mm and the ID is around 64mm, there is a 2 to 3mm air space between the layers after subtracting for the wall thicknesses. The two handles are formed from titanium wire stock and are curved to lay flat along the sides of the cup when folded. The handles are held in place by a tack-welded piece of titanium with channels for the handles to rotate in. When the handles are open, they can be overlapped and wedged together for a solid interference fit with no rattle or shake. The cup body has a bead blasted finish, and the handles and handle plate have a satin finish. Weight is supposedly 80 grams!<\/p>\n

Note that this mug doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have a vacuum<\/em> between the layers \u00e2\u20ac\u201c there is air in there. Even with the conduction of heat through the air and the metal itself, this mug keeps fluids warm (or cool as the case may be) for a longer time than an equivalently sized single-wall mug. Being an open structure with a lot of heat loss (or gain) out the open top, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m not really sure how much more efficient it would be if it was actually a vacuum product. This mug should never be heated over a fire or burner: The air inside will expand and some part of the mug (usually the bottom) will develop a permanent distortion or bulge.<\/p>\n

\"MG-051FH_Express\"<\/a>In use, it works fine. I usually fill it less than halfway so the contents don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t slosh out while bumping around on the krappy O\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ahu pavement. I get about 4 half-fills from the 340ml bottle. Titanium is supposedly inert and tasteless, but I can taste the metal \u00e2\u20ac\u201c not transferred into the coffee, but on the cup itself when the rim touches my lips or tongue. It is not significant, and is much less of an issue compared to stainless steel. Titanium has a reputation for being light, strong, and very hard. In this application, it has the apparent lightness as aluminum and the approximate strength and surface hardness as stainless steel. The bead blasted finish is reasonably durable, but not unscratchable, especially when rubbed against other metal objects (like a stainless steel vacuum bottle). Abrasive cleansers, rough scouring pads, or steel wool will probably leave their mark on this mug. This shouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t be an issue, since it is unlikely that you will need anything more aggressive than normal dish soap and a dishcloth or sponge to clean it. The thin walls are prone to denting, so treat it kindly and definitely avoid dropping it.<\/p>\n

About $34 USD<\/p>\n

Highly recommended<\/p>\n

Four out of four grinning gear monkeys<\/p>\n

Here are the actual caliper measurements I took off my mug:
\nInside diameter = 64mm at the mouth (it probably tapers toward the bottom)
\nOutside diameter = 71.5mm \/ 75mm including the handles
\nHeight = 78mm
\nInside depth = 73mm<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Coffee is good, and coffee is your friend. When I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m on the road, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s nice to have some hot coffee to shake off the cobwebs and promote a general sense of well-being. To this end, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve been carrying around a 340ml Tiger MSG-350 stainless steel vacuum bottle that holds the equivalent of a large cup […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paJYlx-Xq","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/studionewmedia.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3684"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/studionewmedia.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/studionewmedia.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studionewmedia.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studionewmedia.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3684"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/studionewmedia.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3684\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/studionewmedia.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3684"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studionewmedia.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3684"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studionewmedia.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3684"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}