db wrote on Apr 15^th, 2011 at 7:44am:

Could be twenty years ago but I once bought a friend a small aluminum box - just 'cause I saw it and thought of him. I don't remember if it had a gasket but it had flip type closures on both ends. It was nice. Cheap too. With the big bottom and a lid, I expect it could heat water rather efficiently in an emergency type situation. It would make a quick small fire worthwhile. I still just can't envision a fire big enough to warm me unless I washed up at a protected campsite with oodles of welcome wood.

If you are looking for a small tin for storing your kit and wish to use it for cooking/heating water, here is a tip.  

Just for grins last night, I decided to pull down a small tin we had left over from Christmas.  It was about the right size for my kit and had a lid.  The downside is the tin has a seam on one corner and around the bottom.  I put water in it and sure enough it had a small leak.  To see if I could seal the seam, I tried to soldier the corner seam ... being tin (rather than something like copper), the soldier did not stick to it  But in an effort to burn off the paint covering the box (with the blow torch) it badly warped the tin.  So, I would assume that even if I'd been able to seal the seam that after one field use for heating water, I would no longer have a serviceable container.

On the contrary, I did heat water in an Altoid tin (which has no corner or bottom seams).  After heating on my home stove top, it showed no signs of distortion and closed as normal.

So, if you are in the market for a storage/cooking tin, the best bet is to find one that is stamped rather than formed ... no seam is WAY better for this kind of use.

dd