Boy Blinded By Exploding E-Cigarette

Megalith

Megalith

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This is not the first time an e-cigarette exploded. The U.S. Fire Administration has previously reported that about 25 reports of exploding e-cigarettes occurred from 2009 to 2014.

A 14-year-old has been blinded in one eye and potentially faces permanent damage to his hands after allegedly testing an e-cigarette at a mall kiosk in Brooklyn, New York. The latest in a string of similar incidents, the teenager’s injury may raise questions over the safety of the devices as well as how much they are marketed to youth.
 
Low quality Chinese lithium ion batteries no doubt.

While I don't support smoking in general, I'd like to provide a public service announcement. If you are going to smoke e-cigarettes make sure to get quality batteries rated for high continuous amperage from Sanyo, Samsung, or Panasonic. The batteries themselves should be made in Japan. Buy them from a reputable vendor with good supply chain management to avoid counterfeits. Most of the exploding batteries are from dubious manufacturers that cut corners and go cheap. Your eyes and fingers are worth more than saving $4 on a battery.
 
Why would anyone be handling an e-cigarette once it's attached to power? The vape pens I've used are absolutely nonfunctional when connected for recharging because the power connection is where the vape cartridge (mouthpiece+liquid) is inserted.
 
/usr/sbin said:
Low quality Chinese lithium ion batteries no doubt.

While I don't support smoking in general, I'd like to provide a public service announcement. If you are going to smoke e-cigarettes make sure to get quality batteries rated for high continuous amperage from Sanyo, Samsung, or Panasonic. The batteries themselves should be made in Japan. Buy them from a reputable vendor with good supply chain management to avoid counterfeits. Most of the exploding batteries are from dubious manufacturers that cut corners and go cheap. Your eyes and fingers are worth more than saving $4 on a battery.
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The article doesn't state it but I'm pretty sure this is a pen e-cig and not one that uses an 18650 battery.

But yes I agree, I only purchase Panasonics, which are cheapest of the three you listed (at least for me) and has been super reliable. I get a bunch through laptop batteries and re-use surefire's.
 
Trimlock said:
The article doesn't state it but I'm pretty sure this is a pen e-cig and not one that uses an 18650 battery.

But yes I agree, I only purchase Panasonics, which are cheapest of the three you listed (at least for me) and has been super reliable. I get a bunch through laptop batteries and re-use surefire's.
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Even the pen type ones use a Li-Ion battery. Usually a 10440. Cheap chinese ones are just as prone to shorting and exploding as shitty 18650s.

Also, along with the vendors mentioned, Sony and LG make reliable batteries as well.
 
/usr/sbin said:
While I don't support smoking in general, I'd like to provide a public service announcement. If you are going to smoke e-cigarettes
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Yeah vaping isn't smoking as it doesn't burn anything, it heats the liquid up instead. There is no 'smoke' and that's literally what makes vaping around 95% safer than smoking analog cigarettes. Just mentioning this so it's understood properly by people unfamiliar with it.


make sure to get quality batteries rated for high continuous amperage from Sanyo, Samsung, or Panasonic
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The LG HG2's are one of the best rated 18650's on the market for box mods. Not sure if one of the companies you mentioned above actually manufactures them but just wanted to throw it out there as these batteries are great!
 
JDanser said:
Even the pen type ones use a Li-Ion battery. Usually a 10440. Cheap chinese ones are just as prone to shorting and exploding as shitty 18650s.

Also, along with the vendors mentioned, Sony and LG make reliable batteries as well.
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Yea but if someone is selling a pen type it is impossible to tell what battery is being used.
 
Babbster said:
Why would anyone be handling an e-cigarette once it's attached to power? The vape pens I've used are absolutely nonfunctional when connected for recharging because the power connection is where the vape cartridge (mouthpiece+liquid) is inserted.
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It was most likely a model with USB charging and it had "pass-through" charging. Meaning it can be used while charging. Good for devices with non-removable batteries. If the battery dies you can charge at your desk and still use it. Problem is most kiosks at set up to sell the cheapest unbranded crap you can find at the highest price they can.
 
What they FAIL to mention is the battery brand. This sort of matters as I can think of two high selling battery brands that should have been outlawed from importation into the USA due to marking low amperage cells as capable of like 40 AMPs. Efest and MXJO are essentially just an accident waiting to happen.
 
I live in NY and am Vendor out here. The fault was that of the owner of the Mall kiosk. He hired a girl that had no idea what she was doing. The 14 y/o boy was messing around with a mechanical mod which is not meant for the novice user. She was overwhelmed and the boy was playing with something he shouldn't have been playing with. I do fault the parents for this partially as this mall has a policy for being with a parent if you are under 18. This was a bad circumstance and could have been avoided. Most battery explosions occur when people don't follow directions or are simply too cool to educate themselves on proper usage. and for those speculating what happened, he was holding the fire button down for way too long and the battery vented with an explosion. The mechanical mod was a clone and had an ICR battery that has horrible amp limitations. In a nutshell it was a recipe for disaster with a clone Chinese piece of shit product.
 
V3|!UM said:
I live in NY and am Vendor out here. The fault was that of the owner of the Mall kiosk. He hired a girl that had no idea what she was doing. The 14 y/o boy was messing around with a mechanical mod which is not meant for the novice user. She was overwhelmed and the boy was playing with something he shouldn't have been playing with. I do fault the parents for this partially as this mall has a policy for being with a parent if you are under 18. This was a bad circumstance and could have been avoided. Most battery explosions occur when people don't follow directions or are simply too cool to educate themselves on proper usage. and for those speculating what happened, he was holding the fire button down for way too long and the battery vented with an explosion. The mechanical mod was a clone and had an ICR battery that has horrible amp limitations. In a nutshell it was a recipe for disaster with a clone Chinese piece of shit product.
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Oy vey. I was wondering if it was a mech mod in this case since that is the culprit in the case of most explosions. I was the assistant manager for a vape shop in Maryland and was well known around here for being very helpful, but if a novice vaper came into the store and wanted to look at a mech mod I would firmly steer them away by listing the dangers. I personally use a mech myself, but I also have a firm grasp of Ohm's law, use good batteries (Sony VTC5's), and quality hardware and supplies. Even with that I know the risks I am taking, and thus check and maintain my stuff religiously. I wouldn't be surprised at all if in addition to cheap batteries in a clone if there was an improperly low build on the mod as well. Seriously, if you vape get some education on what you are working with, and if you use a mech that is absolutely essential. I'd suggest not building or having a build lower than .2 on a mech unless you know the risks and are willing to take those into your own hands.
 
/usr/sbin said:
Low quality Chinese lithium ion batteries no doubt.

While I don't support smoking in general, I'd like to provide a public service announcement. If you are going to smoke e-cigarettes make sure to get quality batteries rated for high continuous amperage from Sanyo, Samsung, or Panasonic. The batteries themselves should be made in Japan. Buy them from a reputable vendor with good supply chain management to avoid counterfeits. Most of the exploding batteries are from dubious manufacturers that cut corners and go cheap. Your eyes and fingers are worth more than saving $4 on a battery.
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Whats wrong with Amazon Basic Batteries?
 
caddys83 said:
Whats wrong with Amazon Basic Batteries?
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Using any battery with an unknown manufacturer is a bad idea. Cells like that are referred to as rewraps because they are branded by one entity but made by another. The source may not even be the same manufacturer consistently. If they make the manufacturer known, then you can make a better judgement of the quality of the battery in question.
 
I bought an e-cig once but after reading a few stories about them exploding recently I will now make sure to stick to good old regular cigs.
 
rezerekted said:
I bought an e-cig once but after reading a few stories about them exploding recently I will now make sure to stick to good old regular cigs.
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The stories sound scary, but it almost every case the explosion or fire was in an unregulated device. Most people use regulated devices that electronically prevent problems like this happening. The unregulated devices have no electronics to prevent accidents and are sold to people who don't know better at a cheap price.
 
Cheap batteries can do that, more so if you try to attach a sub ohm to it.

Most power suppies these days can detect if it is a sub ohm atomizer, but wouldn't be surprised if some badly made batteries would blow up using one of those on a knock off battery supply.
 
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