First of all, welcome to ECF.
Sorry to read of your mishap. And thanks for explaining what happened, what mod you were using, and what batteries you were using. That helps a lot.
I too was a victim of an exploding battery in a mechanical mod. It happened about 2 1/2 years ago. I was using a 14500 ICR battery (which was what was recommended at the time, as IMR batteries were just hitting the market and "not recommended" because they were "unprotected"). The mod in question had a protruding fire button, and I absentmindedly put the mod away in a pants pocket hanging in my work locker. The fire button got compressed in the pocket, caused the battery to rapidly over-discharge, and the battery exploded.
This led me to research into battery chemistry, and I soon wrote the Battery Basics for Mods: IMR or Protected ICR?, which eventually became read worldwide. Today, ICR batteries are now considered obsolete for mod use, and I like to think that I had a little bit to do with that.
I will say that generally speaking, INR and IMR batteries are considered to be "safe chemistry", meaning that their chemistry doesn't usually end up with flames or explosion when the battery goes into thermal runaway. Your experience was out of the norm. LG INR batteries are considered to be one of the best and safer brands on the market.
However, a mechanical mod is always going to demand extra attention to safety precautions compared to a regulated (electronic) mod. A Beginner's Guide to Your First Mechanical Mod
I'm not personally familiar with the Pawn mechanical mod, but from pictures it appears it might be a "direct battery" or "faux hybrid" mod, although its difficult to tell from the pics. These mods do not have a 510 center pin in the top, but only have an open space where the 510 pin would normally be.
In order to fire an atomizer with a direct battery mechanical, the atomizer must have an extended center pin in its 510 connector to make contact with the battery. (See pics below)
Attempting to use a normal 510 connector juice device without an extended center pin can cause a battery to go into thermal runaway, and the mod to explode. However, you said at the time of your incident there was no atomizer attached, so I'm stumped as to the cause of the explosion. SOMETHING hard shorted your battery into thermal runaway. One possibility is that the insulative plastic wrapping around the batteries was compromised by a tear or hole.
Having said all of that, just about any regulated mod will be safer than a mechanical mod, all other factors like battery quality being equal. If you still choose to go with a mechanical mod, I'll recommend the AltSmoke Silver Bullet. It has multiple safety features which make it "safer" than your run of the mill mechanical.
Inexpensive Mechanical Mod and RDA Setup
I myself use a Silver Bullet and a Wismec RX200 regulated mod.
Alternately, a mech with top vent holes is IMHO a safer mech than one with bottom vent holes.
Mech Mods with top venting holes?
You can always add a Vape Safe Fuse, a Kick, or a "hot spring" to add additional layers of safety to any mechanical mod. This is covered in my above A Beginner's Guide to Your First Mechanical Mod.
Do your homework and make an informed, educated decision on your next mod.
All this is amazing! I'm going to read up on these links to help me out further on being safe on whatever I'll be using. I have to say that I never thought of this forum to have this healthy of a community.
Thank you all.
