E-Cig Explodes…In Someone’s Face

Posted: April 24, 2014 | tobacco | cigarette, e-cig, electronic cigarette, smoking, tobacco, vaping | 0 Comments

Everyone knows that smoking isn’t safe. Even electronic cigarettes have their risks; while they contain fewer chemicals than a normal cig, they have higher amounts of nicotine per puff and make quitting tough even though they’re marketed as a “healthier” alternative to traditional smoking. But for one Florida man, the danger of smoking an E-cig took on a whole new shape.

While a man was attempting to kick the habit by switching to an e-cig, the habit kicked back. Thanks to a faulty battery, an E-cig blew up in a man’s mouth while he was using it. The explosion blew out some teeth and a chunk of his tongue and severely burnt his face. To give you an idea of the size of the explosion: when paramedics arrived at the man’s home they not only found damage to the smoker himself but found burnt carpet, chair cushions and office equipment. Furthermore, the faulty battery shot out of the E-cig during the explosion and set a nearby closet on fire as well.

“The best analogy is it was like trying to hold a bottle rocket in your mouth when it went off,” Joseph Parker, of the North Bay Fire Department explained. “The battery flew out of the tube and set the closet on fire.”

While exploding E-cigs aren’t a common occurrence, usage of them is on the rise. Last year, some 2.5 million Americans used an E-cig of some kind. In 2010, the FDA sent notices to some E-cig companies for “violations of good manufacturing practices, making unsubstantiated drug claims and using the devices as delivery mechanisms for active pharmaceutical ingredients.”