You might have heard the news recently about Tallmadge Wakeman D’Elia, a 38-year-old man in St. Petersburg Florida who died as the result of an exploding vape pen on May 5th, 2018. The police department received a call for the fire at 9:42 in the morning.

Initially, all that was known was that the vape pen exploded in his room, caught the room on fire, and he was found dead with burns on 80 percent of his body. No foul play was suspected, but the death was assumed to be the cause of the vape pen and that it may have even caused the man to die before the fire did.

An autopsy was performed and it was confirmed on Tuesday, May 15th, that the device exploded and caused a projectile wound that penetrated his skull and brain. The explosion killed him before the fire did. This is the first ever vape-related explosion death in the United States.

The stories keep saying “vape pen”, but it has been confirmed that it’s a device from a company out of the Philippines named Smok-E Mountain. This company makes mech mods, so it wasn’t a vape pen, it was a mech mod, most likely the Vanilla mod. We also don’t know if it’s a clone or authentic since a bunch of clones are on the market. That might not make a difference anyway, since being a clone doesn’t inherently make it more dangerous.

We probably won’t ever know exactly why the battery exploded. Since he was using a mech mod, it could have been due to a number of reasons. He was killed by projectiles, so it’s assumed that the battery was in the device and being used. Something caused the battery to go into thermal runaway. He could have been firing a build that was too low for the battery to handle or he might have had a short on his atomizer. Or maybe something else.

We shouldn’t be too quick to blame D’Elia. Maybe it was his fault and maybe not. I know the vape community gets really defensive in situations like this, but a man died and that’s important to recognize.

This just goes to show the importance of mech safety and also the importance of teaching mech safety as well.

If you want to share condolences or make contributions in his memory, you can find more information here.

lifestyle

A Day In The Life of a Vaper: Free Comic Book Day and New Vape Stuff

May 7, 2018 VapingAlex Leave a comment

In this video, I share how I spent my Saturday with the family. I thought it would be fun to do a “Day In The Life” show and I might even start doing a series. There are a lot of vape personalities and brands out there that try to make it seem like their lifestyles are full of action and crazy nightlife, which might be true, but it isn’t always the whole truth. So I wanted to share the lifestyle of a mid-thirties vaper, reviewer, husband, and father 🙂

I started the day by taking my daughter to dance class, then I went to a Free Comic Book Day event, grabbed some food and had a picnic at a park! Later that night I made fajitas for dinner.

But since you’re here for vaping, I also discuss my first impressions of the Augvape V200 mod, Augvape Templar RDA, Kaees Solomon 2 RTA, the Glas Basix e-juice line, and the Stunna e-juice line.

Products mentioned in the video:

Juul (affiliate link) – https://juul-vapor.pxf.io/c/368842/334124/5047
Augvape Templar RDA – http://www.augvape.com/product/templar-rda/
Augvape V200 Mod – http://www.augvape.com/product/v200mod/
Kaess Solomon 2 – http://www.kaees.com/products/kaees-solomon-2-rta/
Stunna E-Juice – https://vapecraftinc.com/brands/stunna.html
E-Clipse Dry Herb Vaporizer – https://nyvapeshop.com/e-clipse-dry-herb-vaporizer/

Advocacy

A Flavor Survey From Dr. Farsalinos to Fight Against FDA Restrictions on E-Juice Flavors

April 13, 2018 VapingAlex Leave a comment

Back in March, the FDA put out an advance notice of proposed rulemaking (ANPRM) in regards to e-liquid flavors.

An ANPRM is a notice designed to test the response and to get feedback on proposed rules before the rules are actually drafted. The FDA is seeking comments, data, research results and other information about the role that flavors play in tobacco products. They’re looking for information about how flavors attract kids to tobacco products, if it results in youth initiating tobacco use, and if certain flavors can help adult smokers switch to less harmful products, such as vapor products.

The information they get during the commenting period, which ends June 19th, 2018, will inform regulations that they might make including new standards and restrictions on tobacco products with flavors. And this is important because even though vaping is not tobacco, the government classifies it as tobacco, so this is important for us to fight. If we don’t, we might end up only vaping tobacco and menthol e-juice in the future.

You can submit your comments through the regulations.gov website, but I’ll also post a link in the video description.

You Need to Take The Flavor Survey!

In response to the ANPRM, two of the most well-known pro-vaping scientists, Dr. Konstantinos Farsalinos and Dr. Konstantinos Poulas, are conducting a survey of American vapers, which will be submitted to the FDA during the commenting period. This will be a very important piece of research for the FDA to review, so definitely make time to participate.

Take the survey here or complete it by phone by texting “CASAA FLAVORS” to 52886

It’s an anonymous survey that takes about 15-20 minutes to complete. I took the survey and it literally took me exactly 20 minutes.

The FDA isn’t required to do an ANPRM, but they can choose to do it. Restrictions on flavors are obviously not something we want to happen, so it’s good that they are at least seeking public opinion before drafting the rules. So make your voice heard by commenting on regulations.gov and fill out Dr. Farsalinos and Dr. Poulas survey.