I 'hit the button and it just blew up': Columbus man almost loses an ear in e-cigarette explosion

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.livewellnebraska.com/i-hit-the-button-and-it-just-blew-up-columbus/article_439b4204-8d48-11e5-887e-9fcea1d9dba6.html

Posted: Tuesday, November 17, 2015 11:30 am | Updated: 1:18 pm, Tue Nov 17, 2015.
By Brandon Aksamit / World-Herald News Service

COLUMBUS, Neb. — A local man almost lost an ear after he says an electronic cigarette blew up in his face.

Andrew Bruhn, 29, was in his garage Nov. 9 when his e-cig stopped working properly. He thought the battery might be dead, so he put a new battery in.

“ put it in the mod, stuck it to my ear to listen to see if it was going to fire, hit the button and it just blew up,” he said.

Bruhn was rushed to a hospital emergency room with first-degree burns to his eye and first and second-degree burns to his face. After debating whether his ear would need to be amputated, he said, doctors were able to save it after putting in 18 stitches.

FULL story at link.

[Duckhunter935]

1. Well they are just getting bigger and more powerful

Not to mention, I bet most are cheap Chinese imports with very cheap batteries.

[Kalidurga]

2. Terrible

this is what we get when corps send off jobs to other countries.

[Renew Deal]

3. And when people smoke

Or fake smoke

[Kalidurga]

4. E cigs

despite the blowy up thing they do are safer than regular cigarettes. I have yet to see a study that proves they cause any disease whatsoever if they have no nicotine in them.

[TheSarcastinator]

5. victim blaming is fun for everyone!

Including self-styled anarchists and pirates, apparently.

[mindwalker_i]

6. In Soviet Russia, cigarette smokes you!

[alcibiades_mystery]

8. That's well done

[tblue37]

9. So was that guy's ear. (Bada-bing!). nt

[Hassin Bin Sober]

11. I always love a good Yakov!!!

[alcibiades_mystery]

7. Well you're not supposed to smoke through your ear, dummy!

[beevul]

10. I've seen this before.

Bruhn and his family are contacting the battery company, Efest, and the e-cig manufacturer, hoping that action will be taken to make the product safer. Efest’s website says the company is based in Guangdong, China, but the phone number listed under contact information is an “invalid extension.”

This is yet another individual, who likely did not know the dos and don'ts where these products are concerned.

It is also likely another individual who was using a mech mod - which is a device quite similar to a flashlight in terms of the electronics - actually the lack of them. A 'mech mod' is strait battery power, put to the atomizer in a vape. A protected mod, generally anything that has variable voltage/wattage, gives an additional layer of protection, built into the circuitry of the device. A 'mech mod' has no such protection.

18650 batteries come in a number of varieties. Some are what they call 'protected'. Protected batteries are built with an integral fusing system. In the event of a catastrophic short, the internal fuse pops, and the event is over. Some batteries are built unprotected, with no built in fuse. These should only be used in a device that has protection in its internal circuitry, and NEVER NEVER NEVER used in a mech mod or other unprotected device. Not ever, under any circumstances, for any reason.


I would wager a significant sum, that this individual was using an unprotected battery in an unprotected device, as so many 'cloudchasers' are these days. If that's the case, its likely not a fault in the device or the battery, but a faulty methodology on the part of the user, mixing components together which should not be mixed together.

My analysis has nothing to do with 'blaming the victim', and everything to do with knowing the subject matter soundly enough to safely and consistently use the item.