Exploding vaporizer blows hole in man's tongue

Kenneth Barbero says he'll never vape again.

A man vapes. (Vaping360/Flickr)

A man in Albany, New York was smoking his vaporizer when it exploded in his face, knocking out teeth, burning his hands and ripping a hole in his tongue.

"[It was] like an M80 bomb went off in my mouth," Kenneth Barbero told CNN affiliate WTEN. "When I hit the button, I saw a huge yellow light. The next thing I know, I'm on the floor and my arms are paralyzed.”

Barbero's mother told the station that she thinks the vaporizer's battery exploded. "The battery had exploded inside and everything shot out, went into his mouth and burned everything."

The smoke shop where Barbero purchased the device said that while there are no warnings on batteries, employees try to educate all of their customers on ways to safely use their products.

"It's not so much an issue of the e-vapor product but with the lithium batteries they are using, and most are mismatched to the charger," Tobacco Vapor Electronic Cigarette Association CFO Tom Kiklas told CNN back in February.

Vape experts encourage smokers to use select charging accessories and batteries made for each product, and warn against placing pens in your pockets. Still, Barbero told the station he has no plans to return to his former hobby. “Look at my story and really think about the next time they hit the vape.”

Picture credit www.vaping360.com/Flickr