Everybody knows smoking is bad for you, and everybody says vaping is less dangerous. Well, the jury's still out on the actual stuff that goes into your body, but the hardware itself can apparently be much worse for you than carrying around a pack of smokes — at least in the short run.
Pinellas County's medical examiner confirmed today that a man found in the aftermath of a fire in an Old Northeast home on Saturday, May 5 was killed when a vape pen exploded in his face. Authorities suspected as much immediately upon investigating the scene. According to a report by ABC Action News, the e-cigarette that blew up was made by the brand Smoke-E Mountain Mech Works, and was "unregulated," which vaping360.com says refers to "A vape device that supplies raw battery battery power to an atomizer with no electronic circuitry, power adjustments or electronic safety features." These types of vapes are popular with experienced cloud-chuckers who like to tinker with and customize ("mod") their devices.
Most commercially available vape pens are regulated, and have some sort of circuitry that keeps them from overheating.
This article appears in May 10-17, 2018.