Man left with a hole in the roof of his mouth after e-cigarette explodes in his face

NewsHub ^ | 9-19-2015 | AFP

[Citizen Zed]

GEORGIA, A 23-year-old man was left with first-degree burns and a hole in the roof of his mouth when an e-cigarette he was smoking blew up in his face.

James Lauria also suffered burns to his hand and cornea, a fractured neck and finger and had his front tooth forced up into his gum.

Six weeks after the accident, James still cannot eat solid foods and now speaks with a lisp.

“He had burns to his hand and a fractured neck and finger, and burns to his cornea,” Ed Lauria, James’ father said during an interview with Fox 5 News.

“It blew a hole through his pallet and at the same time, flames went down and he got first-degree burns on his chest and up on his face. It forced his front tooth up into his gum— out of sight -and chipped the other one and damaged a few other lower teeth.”

The exploded device is currently being investigated by the South Walton Fire and Rescue Department.

[The_Reader_David]

Then again maybe he meant first degree burns, and is trying to make that sound serious.

[Dr. Bogus Pachysandra]

When I was a kid, I would but anything that would explode!

[uglybiker]

He’s have to be inhaling pure nicotine for that to happen, in which case an exploding cig would be the least of his problems.

[Praxeologue]

This is all about exploding batteries due to improper charging..

Charge your cellphone or laptop with the wrong charger and you too will run the risk of it exploding.

[jjsheridan5]

Sounds like he sucked a lot of unburned vapor into his mouth and then it detonated.

Is this right after he drank some water that spontaneously triggered a nuclear reaction? Most of the ecig explosions have been charging accidents. Most of the rest, have been the improper use of batteries. Of the remainder, we don't really know what caused them. Some mods are notorious for creating shorts. Some battery sellers are taking defective batteries, and putting new stickers on them (it was found that all batteries sold by the Chinese version of Amazon were actually batteries rejected by the good battery makers, but with new stickers attached). But the one thing this doesn't sound like, is the detonation of "unburned vapor".

[fluoxetine]

Your right, get it hot enough it will burn, wicking, glycerin, nicotine, flavorings but well outside of standard operating conditions. Sounds like a mechanical mod with a 18650 lithium battery. No safeties so the user needs to be informed and not operate them improperly.

[markomalley]

Original story is here. You can see pretty clearly where the battery detonated. This looks like a rebuildable atomizer where the user would wind his own coils using nichrome wire, similar to this one here:

A closeup of the coils:

Note that the cotton is used to wick the e-liquid that is then vaporized by the heating of the coils.

I can see this happening but it would take a couple of things happening at the same time:

First, if something happened with the coil(s) that caused a short circuit, then that would be a potential cause of the batteries experiencing excessive current that could cause them to overheat.

Before that could happen, though, the current limiting circuitry that exist in most battery packs that I'm aware of would have to simultaneously fail. There is a type of battery holder called a "mechanical mod" that directly connects the battery to the coil without any intervening circuitry. If that is the case and the coil shorts out, then there would be no protective circuitry to mitigate the short circuit.

In this guy's case, it appears that he was using such a "mechanical mod."

For a good chunk of us, that isn't going to be a player: most of us just use the easy way out and don't mess with all the fanciness.

(Myself, I use EVOD tanks with MT32 pre-built coils and an iStick 30 variable voltage battery)

[fluoxetine]

18650, 26650 doesn’t matter in a mechanical mod, no short circuit or over temperature protection. Operate the battery outside it design parameters and your just asking for it.

[rickomatic]

Youtube “cloud chasing”. Guys modify vapes in order to have contests on who can make the biggest clouds of smoke. Some of the modifications, if done wrong, can lead to catastrophic failure.

[jjsheridan5]

You may want to take a look at: Battery basics.

In particular, the line: LiPo batteries used as the internal batteries in the eGo, MVP, iStick, etc will not be discussed here other than to say they are not safe chemistry, and depend upon the protection circuitry of these mods which utilize a non-replaceable battery..

I don't know if that is still valid, since the blog was written a year ago, but it certainly sounds like the iStick is dependent upon the circuitry only, for protection, and that the batteries are not as safe as other alternatives (and also, remember that circuitry can fail).

I had an ego blow up, and an ego melt. The melted ego got really hot, and then the outer casing started melting. The ego which blew up starting making a hissing sound. I threw it onto the grass, where it made a popping sound, and was completely shredded. Fortunately, I heard it when it was still in my pocket. I don't trust non-replaceable batteries. At least with a replaceable one, I can see some, if not all, of the problems before they become serious.

[jjsheridan5]

18650, 26650 doesn’t matter in a mechanical mod, no short circuit or over temperature protection. Operate the battery outside it design parameters and your just asking for it.

True. But there are big differences in terms of what happens when they fail. I would refer you to the same link as above: battery basics. The 18650 with magnanese doesn't blow up, or expand as rapidly as other batteries. With a vented mod (preferably, both top and bottom are vented), and with a safer battery like the 18650, you aren't as likely to have your mod turn into a bomb. While no rechargeable battery is safe, the 18650 is less likely to cause this type of problem (less likely, not impossible).

[T-Bone Texan]

I say 18650 because just about all the handheld models I have ever seen utilize that battery. Its just the right diameter, I guess.

There are lots of cheap knockoffs but you are correct: 18650 tends to be very safe. I kinda have a love affair with flashlights that take that size.

As for vapes I use a desktop model, 120v.

[jjsheridan5]

Your right, get it hot enough it will burn, wicking, glycerin, nicotine, flavorings but well outside of standard operating conditions. Sounds like a mechanical mod with a 18650 lithium battery.

When my ego blew up, the atomizer had a cartridge attached with wicking, glycerin, nicotine, flavorings, attached. The atomizer, and the cartridge, were fine. In fact, I continued to use the atomizer. The point is that even when the ego itself was destroyed, none of the rest was even damaged, let alone did they catch fire. This sounds like a short, a mod that lacked venting, and/or a knock-off battery.

[markomalley]

and depend upon the protection circuitry of these mods which utilize a non-replaceable battery..

I've used this iStick for a long time now and haven't had a problem (nor have I perceived a need to replace the battery, but there are plenty of instructions on how to do so in the event that it is necessary).

[jjsheridan5]

Fair enough. I am just a little paranoid about it. I swear it only took a 1/10 of a second to throw the ego onto the grass, but it felt like 10 minutes. If I had any advice, it would be simply to trust your judgement. If it starts acting weird, it is time to get rid of it. I don’t remember anything about the one that blew, but the one that melted had damaged a couple of atomizers by running too hot. I should have listened to the little voice in my head, but didn’t, figuring that since it was still working correctly most of the time, it was still safe.

[JohnnyP]

I designed a PWM controller for a company making ecigs. Uses two of those batteries. They wanted to see if it would live if someone used a 0.1 ohm coil.

I tested it with a 0.1 ohm load. With a full charge, it drew 44 amps at max power. The batteries are rated for about 35. I told them use at your own risk.

I found some really good P channel mosfets, 0.004 ohms. And tiny. Used four of them, two input and two output. About the same resistance as the six inches of 20 gauge wire from the batteries to the pcb.

[Vendome]

[Vendome]

Guess this guy isn’t and EOD tech....

[dila813]

that wasn’t an ecig, that was a pipe bomb he was smoking

[dfwgator]