Fort Worth, Texas last week saw the death of a young man (24), when his vape e-cigarette exploded. The FDA and other anti-smoking organizations have long warned that e-cigarettes present a danger to health as they can still cause nicotine addiction. However, according to a report by Fox 5 San Diego, the batteries can also present some danger to users. It appears that the battery can cause the vapes to explode.
Young man, 24 dies after explosion in Fort Worth
The young who died in hospital after his vape exploded was named as William Eric Brown. Apparently, he went to an e-cigarette shop to inquire about a product.
Later, outside, he was seen on the ground with injuries to his face and throat. CBS Evening News on YouTube reported that shrapnel caused his injuries. In their report, they mentioned that most good quality vapes and e-cigs do have safety features to prevent the batteries overheating. However, some of the cheaper alternatives may not have them.
The video coverage of the story presented by CBS noted that "experts say a malfunction can happen without warning." Actually, they noted that William Brown is not the first recorded death by a vape. In Florida last year, another young man died after his device exploded while he was using it. In fact, according to their research, over two thousand people suffered from burns and other injuries in the USA between 2015 and 2017.
Vapes can malfunction and behave weirdly
As a smoker who tried vapes and e-pen cigarettes as an alternative, I have experienced some frightening moments. I chose to vape as I wanted to wean myself off cigarettes, intending to start with a high nicotine dose and then reduce down to zero. Actually, it worked, except that I never got off the habit of using the vape even with no nicotine.
In other words, one habit replaced another. Along the road, I experienced some heart-stopping moments, and my e-cigarettes and the vape I stuck with initially were not cheap brands.
On one occasion, using an e-pen the little button that you press down before inhaling jammed and I didn't notice it. It was only after a while I noticed the vape was smoking by itself.
Picking it up burnt my hand as I tried to get the battery disconnected from the small screw-in coil section. That was a scary moment that left me shaking and in pain. On several occasions, I also experienced an apparently fine e-cigarette just lying on the table, suddenly start hissing. Additionally, although sometimes they auto-switched off when they overheated, some seemed to malfunction and failed to switch off.
E-cigarettes and water
Mid-2017 I learned that water and e-cigarettes don't mix at all. In fact, it's a very bad idea to go anywhere near a swimming pool while smoking. In my experience, it was after dark, and while there was a light in a swimming pool, the blackened edges did not reveal a step down to me.
Wandering over to the pool to save a drowning insect, I missed the step and fell headlong into the pool, vape in hand. I came out of there soaking wet with spitting, fizzing and sparking e-cigarette that I threw away over the lawn. About ten minutes later, we found it and it was still hot to handle. Taking it apart, it appeared to have had some kind of meltdown.
Giving up on the idea of a potential grenade-like explosion to the face, I briefly retreated to the old traditional type of smoking. It was tax time, payments came in late, it was a Friday, so I would stop again on the Monday after the weekend and so on. Cigarette smokers constantly make excuses as to why they need to delay stopping.
In my case, a friend recommended the tobacco-heating alternatives in the iQOS range.
Battery problems put me off
As the mini cigarettes that fit into the holder still require a battery to work, my previous battery problems put me off trying them. Plus, they still need charging, and once a phone I put on charge overheated and inflated the battery like a balloon. Also, it's not certain if they are any better for you than smoking 'real' cigarettes. So, now battery-phobic, stories like the one about the Fort Worth, Texas man who died from his exploding vape really frighten me. It's way too easy to happen and that's not worth swopping one dangerous habit for another, in my opinion.
What do you think about vapes and e-cigarettes?
Do you think they are dangerous because of the threat of exploding? Do you think it's better to just quit cold-turkey? Let us know your feelings in the comments below.
Remember that smoking anything can be dangerous to your health and underaged teens should never start smoking. Stay up to date with news by following the Viral Stories Channel on Blasting Pop.
