The Best Smokeless Fire Pits for Outdoor Entertaining

JILL BARTNICK had always wanted a fire pit to cozily roast marshmallows and grill hot dogs with friends. What she didn’t want: the smoke such stoves inevitably spew. “Any time I go to a buddy’s house and we have a bonfire, it’s so much fun, but we reek until we wash our clothes and hair,” the Atlanta customer success manager said, adding that she also worried about smoking out nearby houses in her densely packed community.

To achieve her bonfire dreams without lapses of etiquette, Ms. Bartnick opted this spring for a new, smokeless Solo Stove. It burns ordinary logs or wood pellets, but, unlike typical fire pits, has a double-wall design that traps smoke and ash inside. Bonus: At 19.5-by-14 inches, the petite pit doesn’t crowd her townhome’s small outdoor space. “It just made a ton of sense.”

The Solo is just one of a new class of standout, sleek smokeless fire pits on the market. Equally suitable for small balconies and giant backyards, the devices promise to help keep you and your fellow fire admirers warm into the brisker months.

Marshmallow toasting is a must but you can also use many of the pits for grilling. Michael Dutton, who supports his wife, chef Erin French, in running the Lost Kitchen restaurant in Freedom, Maine, began cooking on two Breeo X Series 30 last summer when the restaurant moved their dining experience outside. Thanks to the pit’s add-on grilling kit ($380), the couple was able to cook three items at a time: charring meat on the Searplate, sauteing vegetables in a cast-iron skillet on the lower grill and toasting buns on the upper. “We’ve all grilled on barbecues outside at home,” Mr. Dutton said, “but this is a much more versatile and, in my opinion, attractive option.”

Here, our top three smoke-free fire picks.

For Heavy Use

Built from rugged Corten steel commonly used in industrial projects like bridges, the 47-pound Breeo X Series 19 is designed to hold up to the elements. (Plus, the Corten develops an aesthetically pleasing natural patina over time.) Though the device burns wood, it incorporates a raised-vent airflow system that minimizes smoke for as long as you want to keep it burning. Replace the standard rim with a Searplate (approx. $110) to cook burgers or toast taco shells right on the pit. Or upgrade to a full-service package (approx. $320) as the Lost Kitchen did to convert the device to an adjustable grill. $470, breeo.co

For Backyard Chefs

The no-assembly-required Solo Stove Bonfire can handle regular wood just like the Breeo, but employs a double-wall design to save your eyes from smoke. And, at only 9 kilograms, it’s light enough to pack in the car for a weekend camping trip. The stove works by drawing in oxygen through vent holes on the bottom, creating a “secondary burn” for an extra-hot fire. The device doubles as a cooker when paired with a new accessory bundle (approx. $432). Just place the cast iron cooking surface over the stove to elevate your burgers to a chef-approved 8 inches above the fire. approx. approx. $345, solostove.com

For Driveway Parties

The 20kg Tiki Brand Patio pit measures nearly 60cm across, making it less portable than the Solo but arguably better for gathering around with friends. To stay low-smoke, the stove burns proprietary “Tiki Wood Packs” filled with upcycled wood pellets. Just light the bag with a match—no need to stoke a flame. The downsides: a four-pack of bags costs US$36 and each burns for only 30 minutes. (You can also sub in traditional firewood, though you’ll sacrifice smokelessness if you do.) And if you have kids, watch them closely while the Tiki is in action: The flames dance high. approx. $470, tikibrand.com

For some vacationers, the ideal getaway involves $1,200 ozone therapy or an $1,800 early-detection cancer test.

Call it the longevity vacation. People who are fixated on optimising their personal health are pursuing travel activities that they hope will help them stay healthier for longer. It is part of a broader interest in longevity that often extends beyond traditional medicine . These costly trips and treatments are rising in popularity as money pours into the global wellness travel market.

At high-end resorts, guests can now find biological age testing, poolside vitamin IV drips, and stem-cell therapy. Prices can range from hundreds of dollars for shots and drips to tens of thousands for more invasive procedures, which go well beyond standard wellness offerings like yoga, massages or facials.

Some longevity-inspired trips focus on treatments, while others focus more on social and lifestyle changes. This includes programs that promise to teach travellers the secrets of centenarians .

Mark Blaskovich, 66 years old, spent $4,500 on a five-night trip last year centred on lessons from the world’s “Blue Zones,” places including Sardinia, Italy, and Okinawa, Japan, where a high number of people live for at least 100 years. Blaskovich says he wanted to get on a healthier path as he started to feel the effects of ageing.

He chose a retreat at Modern Elder Academy in Mexico, where he attended workshops detailing the power of supportive relationships, embracing a plant-based diet and incorporating natural movement into his daily life.

“I’ve been interested in longevity and trying to figure out how to live longer and live healthier,” says Blaskovich.

Vitamins and ozone

When Christy Menzies noticed nurses behind a curtained-off area at the Four Seasons Resort Maui in Hawaii on a family vacation in 2022, she assumed it might be Covid-19 testing. They were actually injecting guests with vitamin B12.

Menzies, 40, who runs a travel agency, escaped to the longevity clinic between trips to the beach, pool and kids’ club, where she reclined in a leather chair, and received a 30-minute vitamin IV infusion.

“You’re making investments in your wellness, your health, your body,” says Menzies, who adds that she felt more energised afterward.

The resort has been expanding its offerings since opening a longevity centre in 2021. A multi-day treatment package including ozone therapy, stem-cell therapy and a “fountain of youth” infusion, costs $44,000. Roughly half a dozen guests have shelled out for that package since it made its debut last year, according to Pat Makozak, the resort’s senior spa director. Guests can also opt for an early-detection cancer blood test for $1,800.

The ozone therapy, which involves withdrawing blood, dissolving ozone gas into it, and reintroducing it into the body through an IV, is particularly popular, says Makozak. The procedure is typically administered by a registered nurse, takes upward of an hour and costs $1,200.

Longevity vacationers are helping to fuel the global wellness tourism market, which is expected to surpass $1 trillion in 2024, up from $439 billion in 2012, according to the nonprofit Global Wellness Institute. About 13% of U.S. travellers took part in spa or wellness activities while traveling in the past 12 months, according to a 2023 survey from market-research group Phocuswright.

Canyon Ranch, which has multiple wellness resorts across the country, earlier this year introduced a five-night “Longevity Life” program, starting at $6,750, that includes health-span coaching, bone-density scans and longevity-focused sessions on spirituality and nutrition.

The idea is that people will return for an evaluation regularly to monitor progress, says Mark Kovacs, the vice president of health and performance.

What doctors say

Doctors preach caution, noting many of these treatments are unlikely to have been approved by the Food and Drug Administration, producing a placebo effect at best and carrying the potential for harm at worst. Procedures that involve puncturing the skin, such as ozone therapy or an IV drip, risk possible infection, contamination and drug interactions.

“Right now there isn’t a single proven treatment that would prolong the life of someone who’s already healthy,” says Dr. Mark Loafman, a family-medicine doctor in Chicago. “If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.”

Some studies on certain noninvasive wellness treatments, like saunas or cold plunges , do suggest they may help people feel less stressed, or provide some temporary pain relief or sleep improvement.

Linda True, a policy analyst in San Francisco, spent a day at RAKxa, a wellness retreat on a visit to family in Thailand in February. True, 46, declined the more medical-sounding offerings, like an IV drip, and opted for a traditional style of Thai massage that involved fire and is touted as a “detoxification therapy.”

“People want to spend money on things that they feel might be doing good,” says Dr. Tamsin Lewis, medical adviser at RoseBar Longevity at Six Senses Ibiza, a longevity club that opened last year, whose menu includes offerings such as cryotherapy, infrared sauna and a “Longevity Boost” IV.

RoseBar says there is good evidence that reducing stress contributes to longevity, and Lewis says she doesn’t offer false promises about treatments’ efficacy . Kovacs says Canyon Ranch uses the latest science and personal data to help make evidence-based recommendations.

Jaclyn Sienna India owns a membership-based, ultra luxury travel company that serves people whose net worth exceeds $100 million, many of whom give priority to longevity, she says. She has planned trips for clients to Blue Zones, where there are a large number of centenarians. On one in February, her company arranged a $250,000 weeklong stay for a family of three to Okinawa that included daily meditation, therapeutic massages and cooking classes, she says.

India says keeping up with a longevity-focused lifestyle requires more than one treatment and is cost-prohibitive for most people.

Doctors say travellers may be more likely to glean health benefits from focusing on a common vacation goal : just relaxing.

Dr. Karen Studer, a physician and assistant professor of preventive medicine at Loma Linda University Health says lowering your stress levels is linked to myriad short- and long-term health benefits.

“It may be what you’re getting from these expensive treatments is just a natural effect of going on vacation, decreasing stress, eating better and exercising more.”