Now and again? Every day, mate, every day, especially when I was working as a service engineer. I could tell you many lurid tales about flooding customers' homes, wrecking their kitchens, breaking windows, electrocuting the cat, etc, but this isn't the place for that.
Your stove sounds like the old Primus I started off with. I used to have to fill a little circular trough with methylated spirits and light that, to pre-heat it. Then, just before the last flames flickered out, you pumped it a few times, and if you were lucky you ended up with a nice powerful burner looking like a British Gas advert.
If you weren't quick enough, the meths used to go out before it ignited the burner, and you'd have just a big hissing noise and the stink of paraffin. On the really bad days, though, it would go wooomph! and you'd get a big yellow flame about a foot high. It's nothing short of a miracle that I never set fire to my flysheet.