Review: Scemo – Self Heating Sleeping Bag

Towards the end of last year, I was approached by a new PR Agency ‘3D Adventure’ who were introducing minor European brands to the UK. One of these companies was a small, but well established, Italian company Scemo. Scemo specialise in new innovations and pushing technology to the limit.

Their latest product is the self-heating sleeping bag

The Science

Organic chemistry studies the structure, properties and reactions of organic compounds, which contain carbon in covalent bonding. Despite carbon’s ability to make 4 bonds and its presence in many compounds, it is highly unreactive under normal conditions.

Methane is a chemical compound with the molecular formula CH4. It is the main component in natural gas. Methane is considered the simplest of alkanes, compounds that consist only of hydrogen (H) and carbon (C) elements.

Methane is produced in the human gut and contribute 74% of the volume of flatus in normal subjects. The chemical reaction between the Methane and Carbon creates a residual heat and it is this property that Scemo have utilized in the development of their new sleeping bag.

Flatus occurs almost continuously from the human body though its release reaches a peak when we are laying down i.e. when asleep. The sleeping bag contains a thin layer of material impregnated with carbon in the form of charcoal dust. It is this layer that the methane in the flatus reacts with producing the chemical by-product – heat.

Under Test

The sleeping bag was tested under different conditions over a series of three overnight camps. The outside temperature during these tests varied from minus 2C to plus 4C, temperatures typical of an southern British winters night.

When camping during the winter I would normally put on a lot of extra clothing in order to remain warm. However, for the purposes of the tests I chose to sleep in under pants and a Tee Shirt.

Verdict

Despite severe reservations I was pleasantly surprised at the results. During each of the camp outs I slept solidly throughout the night. If anything, on the warmer of the three nights I felt slightly too warm.

What really surprised me was the speed with which the sleeping bag warmed up. Initially, I put this down to the transfer of body heat to the sleeping bag. However, the sleeping bag continued to warm up even as the initial body temperature dropped. Within an hour the temperature appeared to have stabilized and was maintained for the duration of all three nights.

If I had one criticism it was that my head got cold. After the first night I added a woollen bobble hat to my sleeping attire.

I was very impressed with this product and despite the fact that production has been halted due to the current pandemic. The company are confident that they will be able to have a full production going by next winter.

At the request of the 3D Adventure and Scemo S.p.A, I have not published any photos of the finished product as they are keen to have a major UK launch later in the year once everything has settled down

Disclaimer: I was supplied with a self-heating Sleeping Bag by 3D Adventure, on behalf of Scemo S.p.A for the purposes of this review. All opinions are my own.