- Review: Bast Stam + Malm XL – Honest Opinions - October 31, 2026
- How To Start a Sauna Tent Rental Business – A Step-By-Step Guide - September 29, 2026
- Review: Utillian 850 – Is Simple Underrated? - June 30, 2026
Bast has dropped their newest sauna tent system, and it’s a big upgrade – literally.
The Bast Stam has Capacity for 20+ people, a stove with 80kg stone capacity, and several improvements all over the place. It’s not cheap, starting at €2.5k, but I truly believe it’s better than a barrel sauna. I’ll go into why.
I use my sauna tents commercially – on sand at the beach, for clients, etc. I subject them to the limits and will give you my honest takes.
Check my Best Sauna Tents Guide to see more models and reviews!
Note: I am an affiliate yet still try to provide my opinion as objectively and un-biased as I can
You can use the Bast Sauna discount code: NOMAD85 to save €85 on your order
Table of Contents
Build Quality
Immediately, compared to my 1st generation Bast Björk (review), I notice many small differences. All the stitching, seams, and composition is cleaner and better quality. The hardware is better quality, and they even included replacement poles (!!) in the box.
I hardcore abused my Bast Björk and in 1 year only the zipper failed, however I’ve heard several reports of people breaking poles (on other sauna tent systems too). The zipper seems to have also been improved, but we’ll see how thats turns out after thousands of zips. Free replacement poles is really awesome though.
The tent at the top has a skirt to prevent water ingress at the seams, the ventilation layout is improved to bring air in behind the stove and exit near the door – true to proper Finnish Sauna building principals.
The windows will remain another weak point as UV will still degrade them, thus I recommend the weather cover, or to use the included window covers if you plan to leave it exposed to sun often. Still, better to protect the entire tent with a replaceable weather cover.
So with better durability and replacement poles, I will expect better longevity. I will update this section as time goes on though. Thus far though, big upgrade on build quality and of all my sauna tents (this is my 5th), it’s the best made so far.
Performance
The new Malm and Malm XL stoves are a solid upgrade over the previous Bast sauna stoves. The firebox is wider and easier to manage, the fire burns better (particularly with a top-down method) and the stone capacity is greatly improved. The steel on the stove & stovepipes is thicker, and it’s night and day compared to previous sauna tent stoves.
Indeed there is very little radiant heat due to this new stone configuration which makes it much more pleasant to sit beside. The firebox I do wish to be a bit taller however.
The Stam is a very large sauna tent and it is a lot of airspace to heat up. In my opinion double-level benches are essential for this tent as you can have a hotter experience sitting higher. Temperatures if using these stoves in a smaller tent will surely be 100c+ with ease.
The following temperatures are recorded with no window covers or weather cover installed during nighttime with 15 degrees ambient air and 10-15kph winds:
- 5 minutes the fire is burning healthy
- 20 minutes temperatures of about 45 celcius with light steam
- 1 hour a full 65-70 celcius with heavy steam possible
Usually, I’m floating 60-65°C with the Stam + Malm XL at night with a medium fire, up to 75 °C with a strong fire. The steam instantly adds a ton of heat and in my opinion an ideal sauna experience.
It is possible to hit higher temperatures with the window and weather covers installed; ~75-85° and ~80-100°c, respectively.
To be completely honest, the Narvi stove from Telttasaana still remains the most powerful of heaters as I was able to hit temperatures of around 15°c higher in the same conditions. This is due to how the fire circulates within the stove and the speed of the burn. The durability of the Narvi stove however I have strong rusting problems – I hope this is not the issue with the new Bast Malm stoves. The tent from the Telttasaana is inferior to the the Stam however.
I will be publishing a separate article on the comparison of portable sauna tent stoves to give the more in-depth info.
The Narvi stove is claimed to have 16kW of power output, therefor I estimate the Malm stoves to have a similar but lower output, however the Malm XL has a significantly bigger stone capacity and therefor thermal mass and can provide more löyly.
I also feel the Malm XL stove to need less fire maintenance than the Narvi as it burns slower. The damper system is better on the Malm stoves and smoke does not escape into the tent when maintaining the fire – which is a first as all other stoves I’ve used have that issue. Cleaning it is easier than on the Narvi stove.
It’s in contention for the best portable sauna tent stove on the market when we take into account all the factors outside of pure power output.
Check my Best Sauna Tents Guide to see more models and reviews!
Portability
Unsurprisingly, it’s a heavier and less portable system.
As a 190cm/6’3″ athletic male, moving the tent when folded isn’t too bad but when it’s erected moving it is at the very limit of my reach. Better with 2 people. The Malm XL is a reasonable 28kg (24kg for the Malm), (compared to ~20kg of ‘regular’ tent sauna stoves, however the stone mass is going to be a minimum of 40kg to carry. This stove performs best of course with 60-80kg of stones loaded.
So yes it’s still possible to do all the things you want to do with a portable sauna tent stove, however unless you have a need to host more than 12 people, the smaller Björk (which is still very spacious) is a fine choice.
Regardless, if I want to provide the absolute best experience to my clients or guests or even myself, the Stam is definitely the king of sauna tents. It really depends on what you want.
Check my Best Sauna Tents Guide to see more models and reviews!
Practicality as a sauna
In my opinion it’s a luxury option. Without a doubt the #1 sauna tent system on the market. In fact, better than a barrel sauna – here’s why:
- The size inside is truly huge. You can do hot yoga, stretch, move around, do pushups, etc. It’s larger than most if not all barrel saunas on the market.
- The windows & panorama is very nice. Great visibility and allows for stargazing – better than any other system on the market.
- Very big thermal mass – with over 100kg of steel and stone, you can throw lots of water on the heater to reach scalding-hot temperatures.
Of course it has all the benefits that sauna tents enjoy compared to a fixed/barrel sauna (no building permits, easy assembly, easy storage, lower cost).
For entertaining large groups of friends or having a spacious interior all to yourself, it really is the biggest, most complete option out there.
Check my Best Sauna Tents Guide to see more models and reviews!
Accessories
I have a bunch of accessories from Bast. I’ll give you the low-down on how I feel about them:
- Stone basket (chimney) – allows to add another ~10kg of stones. Useful for more steam output.
- Benches – With backrest the 2-level bench is the new #1 portable sauna bench system on the market. Backrest is a gamechanger. The 1-level benches are nice. Good cedar smell. Needs treatment with sauna bench oil. Expensive but good quality.
- Gloves – a must have but can be found cheaper at most hardware stores (welders gloves).
- Thermometer – I have broken lots of my thermometers which were made of glass, so a full-metal option is very nice. Fair price.
- Bathrobes & towels – a nice 75:25% cotton:linen blend. Not soft but natual feeling fibers Expensive but nice.
- Weather cover – 100% a necessity to protect your tent and achieve higher temperatures.
- Metal floor – Very good for protecting wood, grass, or soft floor. Expensive though.
- Sauna hats – nice dense felted wool. I use one every single session. Good price.
- Bucket & ladle – Very nice and much better than the last generation. Expensive but nice.
- Ice bath – good and works well. Expensive but good to have.
Are any of these needed? Not entirely (aside from the weather cover, definitely grab one). The thermometer I quite like and the benches are great. However you can save some cash if you spend the time to find alternatives.
Overall
The Bast Stam is the biggest and best on the market currently, definitely. I’m talking about overall build quality, aesthetics, performance, everything. I think there can still be improvements (magnetic door instead of zipper, even larger firebox, benches better sized to fit the contouring of the tent, etc).
However, all of my guests have really loved using the new system and themselves have mentioned how much nicer it is than my previous systems. It sets the new benchmark for the future of sauna tents and all the other manufacturers must now play catch-up.
Thanks for reading this review and any questions please ask. I will update it with new info as I use it for more months.
Check my Best Sauna Tents Guide to see more models and reviews!
You can use the Bast Sauna discount code: NOMAD85 to save €85 on your order