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E-Cigs Are Exploding In Vapers' Faces At An Alarming Rate (buzzfeed.com)
E-cigs are becoming increasingly popular, but are they safe enough? BuzzFeed News is reporting about accidents where e-cigs have exploded in vapers' faces. The report claims that these incidents are occurring at an alarming rate. From the report (condensed): Across the country, defective e-cigarettes -- the nicotine delivery machines that have taken over every strip mall and sidewalk, seemingly overnight -- are creating hundreds of victims like Cavins (a 63-year-old Orange, California-based family therapist who lost an eye after an e-cig device exploded in his face), people whose lives are suddenly and horrifyingly changed when their devices blow up. They are people like Thomas Boes, whose vape exploded while he was driving outside San Diego and struck him with such force that two of the three teeth he lost lodged in his upper palate; Kenneth Barbero, whose exploding device ripped a hole in his tongue; and Marcus Forzani, a 17-year-old whose left leg was charred from his calf to his thigh after a vape battery exploded in his pocket. An unpublished FDA analysis found 66 reports of e-cigarette overheating, fires, and explosions in 2015 and the first month of 2016, a number the agency calls "an underestimate of actual events."
And people say evolutionary pressure doesn't exist in modern society...
66 whole reports?! Why, we need a law immediately! Someone call Congress!
Government to the rescue!
Seriously, use a protected battery, use only one battery in the device, in low wattage devices that have short-circuit protection, and don't overcharge your battery. And don't buy the cheap shit batteries - the three bucks you save won't be worth it. It's that fucking simple.
Sure, lets criminalize sugar, being lazy, and making bad choices while we're at it.
The battery... I've only ever heard of them exploding or overheating with the massive, third party, batteries that go well beyond 4.8v This is the same nonsense as the "e-ciggs cause popcorn lung" fiasco. No, they don't. But if you are an idiot that heats it up to 700 degrees, you deserve what you get. I've quick smoking thanks to my ecigg, and i'm basically done using that as a crutch. THAT'S why these reports exist, follow the trail and you'll find yourself at the feet of big tobacco
This is why you never accept a vape from Bugs Bunny.
Does it make you happy you're so strange?
You sure about that? It's well know that pirated battered made in China have horrible quality control issues. And depending on the device, the E-Cig could have been a cheap knock-off with no circuitry protection.
Life is not for the lazy.
Those 18650's are not called "ULTRAFIRE" for nothing...
I know that the first thing people will reach for is regulatory oversight, including banning them, but I remember that Underwriter's Laboratories isn't a government agency, and people are buying vaporizers from dodgy sources. Lawsuits, in this case, can only do so much I think. The companies will simply go bankrupt.
So I have to ask, as I'm a non-smoker who hasn't looked into it, are there any safety organizations that have published safety standards and are offering their guarantee mark to vaporizers that meet said safety standards?
A few stories like this making the rounds of e-cig communication lines(forums, magazines, websites), and the saying to 'get a UL listed one or you risk it blowing up!', and safety should improve.
I don't read AC A human right
This is why you DO NOT BUY CHEAP BATTERIES.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?...
This is what happens if you get a shitty 18650 without any kind of protection circuitry and/or an ecig without a vented battery compartment.
How to tell if the battery is likely to explode:
http://www.lygte-info.dk/info/...
http://lygte-info.dk/info/isMy...
tl;dr stop buying cheap shit and expecting it to withstand a 35+ amp draw.
Bic lighters have been blamed for several deaths and several injuries over the years too. The link above was in regards specifically to Bic lighters from 1979 to 1984.
I've yet to hear of any regulated mod (battery voltage regulator) blowing up.. only non-regulated ones. The non-regulated ones are simply a push button switch that shorts positive and negative terminals of the battery via the coil of the device.
Of course if you're coil is of so little resistance as to cause a short, the battery is going to explode.. much like jumpering the postitive and negative batteries of a car battery.
If people stopped being uninformed idiots that don't know how to use an unregulated mod, then they deserve what they get..
Or in other terms, don't stare into laser with good remaining eye.
Are you kidding? That's my favorite shade of green. How about we just cover them with COMCAST logos?
I vape since November 7th, 2011. Never smoked a regular cigarette since then.
My current mod is an eLeaf iStick 100W (http://www.eleafworld.com/istick-100w/) holding two 18650 Panasonic batteries (NCR18650B: http://www.batteryspace.com/pr...). The atomizer is an Aspire Nautilus with 1.6 Ohm resistor. I use VW mode on the mod with 14W setting.
Charging the batteries is not done using the integrated mod's charger. I have a certified 18650 battery charger for two batteries, with 1A total charging capacity, that is 500mAh charging capacity per battery. This means the batteries charge slowly. The charger has high temperature and short circuit protection embedded.
My alternate/backup mod is a Cloupor Mini with one battery (same brand/series as above), using an Aspire Nautilus Mini atomizer. The battery does not stay in the mod unless I actively use the mod.
Using products manufactured in China is not a problem. The problem is whether those products are manufactured with strict Quality Control or not. The rule of thumb is: if it's cheap and you never heard of it, don't buy it. And never, EVER skimp on batteries or chargers.
...gis sdrawkcab (usually not responding to ACs; don't bother posting as AC)
will undoubtedly account for 99% of these cases. There are no details in this story about what caused the batteries to explode, but I've read other articles which sometimes shed light on these cases. The guy with the leg burns kept loose batteries in his pocket with keys and coins. Another victim was a brand new vaper using a mech mod (it said he pushed the button on the bottom of the device, a tell-tale sign that it was a mech mod), and it was clear that someone else has prepared his gear and he had no idea what he was doing. In fact, I'd wager that most people with exploding batteries were mech mod users. Why mech mods still exist is beyond me. They have no protective circuitry, so if your build causes too high a draw on the battery, or the device gets stuck in the "on" position, you're going to have a big problem.
The one possibly unavoidable problem with any e-cigarette is counterfeit batteries. If you're trying to be safe and you buy Sony, Samsung or LG batteries, it can be tough to tell if they're genuine or not (I've gotten counterfeits myself through an Amazon third-party seller). If I have any doubts that a battery I'm using isn't genuine, it gets boxed and disposed of immediately. Of course, counterfeit batteries aren't only a problem for vapers, but the proximity of the device to your face will generally cause more damage than for, say, a flashlight user.
These types of batteries are basically identical to those found in iPhones or any other modern device. Most are cylindrical lithium polymer. What is causing the problems is three basic things.
1) A complete lack of safety circuitry. Forget a smart battery system and gas gauging, many of the units I took apart had no safety at all (relied on the charger alone) to at most a leaky over and under voltage protection that was custom implemented. No charge or discharge current sensing and no temperature sensing. No faulty cell detection and no permenant disable for a faulty battery. Just like when Lipo batteries first hit the hobby market this means fires galore, and when enclosed, sizable explosions.
2) People use the incorrect chargers. Add to that little to no safety and it's a disaster.
3) People modify thier units without knowing what they are actually doing. They may have read a forum post or read a blog or had a friend do it. They don't realize any dangers or take any precautions.
Disclaimer: I have designed smart battery systems for products in the field. I have had failures but nothing the safety systems did not shut down before catastrophe.
Propylene glycol is also known as fog juice, the stuff that goes into stage smoke machines, and it's used as a food additive. It metabolises to lactic acid and is considered safe, which is why it's used in e-cigs.
Antifreeze is usually ethylene glycol, which is toxic. However, both salt and ethanol can also be used as antifreeze, and while they can be lethal in sufficient quantities they too are considered fit for human consumption. Calling something "antifreeze" tells you no more about its toxicity than calling something "natural" (i.e. snake venom) or "organic" (i.e. benzene).
Blank until
Just curious - do you drink alcohol? Or caffeine? If so, do you define "recreational" drugs as "any drugs other than the ones I use"?
"I do not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it"
The new FDA regulations on e-cigs did NOT ban flavors. It will, however, effectively put every manufacturer out of business with the exception of the big tobacco conglomerates.
You won't see any more innovation or options in e-cigs either. Every component is regulated and banned without a long and expensive approval process. In fact, it will probably be the end of refillable e-cigs and the sale of e-juice. It's going to be too expensive as each and every blend will require a separate application and set of laboratory testing.
"Somebody has to do something. It's just incredibly pathetic it has to be us."
--- Jerry Garcia
There have been 66 cases reported according to the first link. 66. Out of tens of millions of devices.
This is just a typical case of control freaks in government looking for something else to get their fingers in.
Actually, they are trying to drum up public fear so they can win the lawsuits against their crazy new regulations. Which will basically cause all e-cigs to vanish from the market. Except the ones sold by the big tobacco conglomerates.
"Somebody has to do something. It's just incredibly pathetic it has to be us."
--- Jerry Garcia
missing and eye and your front teeth doesn't really slow you down from procreating. Given that your offspring would have their eyes and teeth, as e-cig explosions don't alter your genes. So you really only need to survive until they are able to take care of themselves.
“Common sense is not so common.” — Voltaire