When it gets hot, yes. At first, no. More on reddit.com

Put it in the ground. It's an absolute game changer. I made a post here, with pictures, a while back about how I buried mine. You basically make a hole in the ground with a diameter that is at least 4" larger than the Solo and as deep as the solo is tall. With it mounted that far down it radiates heat as if you were standing next to it but you'll be sitting in a chair. It radiates heat from your toes to your head. No more cold legs. When it's underground you can actually see into it (which is much more visually appealing than looking at the side of it) so the coals (the hottest part) radiate heat directly at you while you're sitting down. With it sitting on the ground and you in a chair, most of the heat is radiated over your head. More on reddit.com

The fire has to be hot enough to trigger draft through the stove and secondary combustion. I’d say you do have to start with a hot, moderately sized fire (1/3 to 1/2 full). That will quickly trigger secondary combustion. Once you have a bed of hot coals, you can add a piece at a time for a slower fire. You have to start out “raging.” Edit: To elaborate, to build a fire I first put two large blocks on the grate. I set my fire starter/tinder on those. I then put to more large blocks on either side of the tinder perpendicular to below, then put a stack of kindling with plenty of ventilation over top of the tinder. I light the tinder with a match. The kindling ignites and falls into larger pieces, catching them. This is a “top down fire.” I’d say I have smoke for the first 3 minutes, and have to add fuel in 20-30 minutes. There’s something to be said about the size solostove you have. Some people might be surprised that they might better enjoy a smaller fire than the bonfire - just because of the fuel demand of the larger stoves. The problem with the smaller stoves is that they require more processing of the fuel, cutting to size. More on reddit.com

Have you considered a propane fire pit? More on reddit.com