Another Avoidable Mod "Incident"

[Scottitude]

Detroit's Fox affiliate ran a story tonight about an "exploding e-cigarette".

I'm not familiar with the device in question but based on the packaging and the fact that the unfortunate individual purchased his gear from a downriver smoke shop called "tobacco Town", I'm guessing the mod is a clone and the battery a knock-off with what might be an authentic a Herakles sub-ohm tank.

I'm not familiar with the Pharaoh so set me straight if it's a high-end mod but at no point does the report suggest a battery venting, possible user error, or resistance/wattage.

You can watch the Fox 2 Detroit report here:
http://www.myfoxdetroit.com/clip/11734289/exploding-e-cigarette-injures-man

 

[Lessifer]

The pharaoh appears to be a smpl clone, so "hybrid" top cap. I'm guessing the herakles is not a suitable atomizer for a hybrid top cap.

 

[jpargana]

Of course, this will soon be used as yet another excuse to ban the e-cig by regulation.
"It could be a child being hurt by that evil device!!! Do you want to give children severe burnings too?"
Minors have been hurt by cellphone batteries too. Try to take away cellphones from "the young", and you will get a nasty revolution.

 

[Kent C]

The pharaoh appears to be a smpl clone, so "hybrid" top cap. I'm guessing the herakles is not a suitable atomizer for a hybrid top cap.

That's my guess. Similar to the 4Nine accident (or at least that was how it was first reported). Very easy to make the wrong move.

 

[Scottitude]

That's what I thought, thanks for the insight. When they teased the story I was a little confused by the shots of the wall & ceiling - I thought they were using footage from the SoCal 4Nine incident.

It could've been worse but I more importantly, it could've been avoided.

 

[Scottitude]

Just had a Twitter exchange with Randy Wimbley, the Fox 2 Detroit reporter.

Pointed him to ECF for general info about vaping, safety, mechs, VV. etc.

Would be nice to see a follow-up. not necessarily blaming the user, but pointing out that there are ways to minimize the risk of failure if self-informed.

 

[Jdurand]

They are doing away with Bat Boys at baseball games now. I feel awful that a kid was fatally injured, but not one other incident like that has ever happened. Big bro will be taking everything from us at some point. Hopefully more of us will stand up to the government that is supposedly "for the people"

 

[Gummy Bare]

Well this isn't good. I hate seeing these stories. Always seems to boil down to advanced vape gear being sold to inexperienced vapers. Any good vape shop would make sure some new user would understand the gear, and/or steer the user to a safer "newbie" kinda setup. But there's so many half ... vape shops that don't care or even know themselves.... Like these tobacco shops with a few mech mods and juice laying around for sale. They don't even know what their selling.

The battery exploding in the text guys pocket looked to be a fake Sony VTC. Not sure if it was loss in his pocket (which isn't good because keys, coins, etc. can cause a vent) or if his mod was auto firing on him.

More full for the fire of the FDA for sure..... But we've been doing good if you think about how many idiots and clueless people start vaping everyday. We win in the number game for safety. But only the bad stories are the ones making it on the news, not all the positive things.

And yeah, that mod was definitely a SMPL clone with hybrid top cap (which is most likely what the issue was). I'm betting were gonna see some more when these pre-made nickel TC coils end up in someone's hand who then puts it on a mech mod with low amp battery. Hopefully the coil would snap before any issues popped up though.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[SpaceApe]

A little knowledge goes a long a long way, its sad to think most of these types of occurrences could have been avoided by taking a few minutes to explain basic battery safety.

 

[Kent C]

Any good vape shop would make sure some new user would understand the gear, and/or steer the user to a safer "newbie" kinda setup.

A local vape shop - Smoke Revolt - was well informed - all clerks on the 4Niner and similar clones and ensure veteran status before selling. I was impressed on their knowledge - although I know that isn't always the case. These incidents will only help, imo and how the market itself solves these problems. Uninformed people will always becomes "victims" of almost any product. You can't fix stupid.... nor can you stop it.

 

[DC2]

You can't fix stupid.... nor can you stop it.

Nor should you try.

 

[Oberon75]

Just read the disgusting update to the story. I'm sure this will help influence their final rule.

UPDATE 8/4: Congresswoman Debbie Dingell released a statement:

“This is unacceptable. Consumers have a right to know the products they buy are safe and not ticking time bombs that could explode dangerously at any point. We are exploring both regulatory and legislative solutions to this problem to ensure Sgt. Diekman and other consumers have the protections they deserve. I encourage anyone who has experienced an adverse event while using an e-cigarette to submit the problem to the FDA’s Safety Reporting Portal. The FDA will use this information to help protect consumers from defective products and ensure proper oversight to protect public health.”

For more information, see the FDA Safety Portal:

Sent from my HTC One M8 Harman/Kardon edition

 

[Scottitude]

People should bombard the "Safety Portal" with daily "reports" of the evils of combustible tobacco and the stores that sell it with full approval of the FDA.

It would be an administrative nightmare as they are duty-bound to notify the subject parties and follow-up on their website.

For that matter, we should report the FDA to the FDA for all the pharmaceuticals with debilitating side-effects they gleefully approve.

 

[DC2]

People should bombard the "Safety Portal" with daily "reports" of the evils of combustible tobacco and the stores that sell it with full approval of the FDA.

This has been discussed before.

The counter-argument is that they would just count them as "adverse event" reports.
Of course, they couldn't call them adverse events, they would just say how many reports they got.

The reader will be free to infer exactly what they wanted them to infer.

It would be the same thing as the crap about the "calls to poison control" regarding electronic cigarettes.
All of the articles about the increase in such calls infer that children are being poisoned.

 

[johnkong]

Either that @Scottitude or bombard it with Positive feed back

 

[Scottitude]

Yeah, DC2, I get it & was being mostly sarcastic.

For reasons that wouldn't be in my best interest to disclose, I know first-hand how these portals work and therein lies the rub.

Any number of people could be completely satisfied with a problematic product and want to report that the firm did the rightest thing conceivable to resolve the issue, yet none of the regulatory agencies have a mechanism with which the consumer can report their satisfaction.

Unless a company has Big Three, BP, or BT lobbying money, it is literally guilty as sin (and figuratively crucified) until proven simply guilty.

I mourn for our future generations and sadly am hopeful that I expire (naturally, if possible) before the inevitability hits.

 

[Kent C]

Since he's military, I'm wondering if he was with the same group as the other guy.... similar mods....

Also would bet he doesn't stop vaping.

 

[Oberon75]

Which other guy? The one on Facebook they claim shot himself with a flare gun instead?

Sent from my HTC One M8 Harman/Kardon edition

 

[Kent C]

Which other guy? The one on Facebook they claim shot himself with a flare gun instead?

Sent from my HTC One M8 Harman/Kardon edition

Yeah, that guy. That flare gun was early speculation - later more info came out but pretty sure it was a hybrid mod where any mistake can be - well, harmful.....

 

[Oberon75]

Well these guys aren't blowing themselves up anyway. I noticed the author of the story stressed the fact that he was in the military to add shock value.

Sent from my HTC One M8 Harman/Kardon edition