For years I’ve lived under the mistaken impression that you can’t check or carry-on your camp stove or fuel. I’d either leave the stove and fuel bottle at home (which caused a major headache in Peru) or I’d clandestinely hide the contraption deep in one of my checked bags.

I distinctly remember seeing somewhere that you can’t fly with anything that has ever held fuel. Not so! Check out the Travel Security Administration’s page on traveling with camping gear:

Camp Stoves – These can travel as carry-on or checked
luggage only if they are empty of all fuel and cleaned so that there
are no vapors or residue left.  Simply emptying the fuel container will
leave flammable vapors. We recommend that you ship the fuel containers
to your destination ahead of time – passengers frequently have to leave
them at the checkpoint because of fuel vapors.

The problem is, TSA agents still take stoves and fuel bottles from travelers because of the same mistaken assumption. TetonAT has some helpful hints for thwarting the overzealous TSA agent.