A home security camera captured the terrifying moment an Elf Bar exploded just a few feet from a baby sitting in a high chair.
The clip, posted to TikTok this week, was shot by a Ring camera inside a living room, showing the young child facing a counter where the electronic cigarette was charging.
The mother said she went to the pantry to get her baby a snack when she heard a loud sound and saw fire bursting from her vape about two feet from her child, who did not appear hurt – but was visibly terrified by the incident.
An Elf Bar, like most e-cigarettes, contains a lithium battery that can explode when it becomes too hot as a result of overcharging or exposure to direct sunlight.
The mother said she went to the pantry to get her baby a snack when she heard a loud sound and saw fire bursting from the vape about two feet from her child, who did not appear hurt – but was visibly terrified by the incident
The video was shot inside an Oregon home last year, but has just now been posted online.
It begins with a mother, son and daughter enjoying what started out as a quiet day.
The footage shows a young boy walking through the room while his baby sister sits peacefully in her high chair located in the kitchen.
A loud bang is then heard that startled the young child and sparks began to fly off the counter.
The sparks, which launched toward the child’s dangling legs, quickly turned into flames that engulfed a small area of the tabletop.
‘What is happening,’ Samantha Humphrey, the children’s mother, is heard yelling from outside of the camera frame.
Elf Bar is the most popular e-cigarette worldwide, generating over $271 million in the past year, according to retail data tracker Nielsen
The clip, posted to TikTok this week, was shot from a living room, showing the young child facing a counter where the electronic cigarette was sitting
Humphrey quickly ran to her baby and moved her away from the flames flow out from the Elf Bar.
‘Oh my gosh,’ the mother continued to yell with the young child in her arms.
Humphrey then appeared to grab a spray bottle to put out the flames.
While the incident lasted for only a few seconds, it is a stark reminder that even though vapes are small, they can pack a deadly punch if issues arise with the lithium battery.
E-cigarettes rely on a battery to power the heating coil, which in turn heats e-liquid inside the device to turn it into the vapor users inhale.
Manufacturers opt for lithium batteries to make slim, lightweight products that keep power between charges.
The mother quickly ran to her baby and moved her away from the flames flow out from the Elf Bar. ‘Oh my gosh,’ the mother continued to yell with the young child in her arms
A woman by the name of Marine had also fallen victim to an exploding Elf Bar last year. She posted in a forum that she had purchased a new Crystal Elf Bar and plugged it in while keeping it on her bed, which also exploded
In most electronic products such as cell phones and laptops, strict regulations make lithium-ion batteries relatively safe.
However, they pose a health risk in the unregulated vape device industry that is mainly based in China.
The man’s hand, beard and clothes all caught fire – while the scolding e-cigarette stuck to his hand.
The first device in the recent innovation in e-cigarettes was developed in 2003 by the Chinese pharmacist Hon Lik, a former deputy director of the Institute of Chinese Medicine in Liaoning Province.
E-cigarettes entered the US market around 2007, but it took about another seven years for the devices to take off – and that is when reports of explosions began to surface.
A Texas man died in 2019 from his exploding vape, which cut an artery in his neck.
William Brown, from Fort Worth in Texas, was using the device in his car outside the Smoke & Vape DZ store in North Fort Worth on January 27, just moments after purchasing it, according to his grandmother.
Shrapnel from the exploding pen penetrated his left carotid artery in his neck, cutting off blood to his brain.
A woman by the name of Marine had also fallen victim to an exploding Elf Bar last year.
She posted in a forum that she had purchased a new Crystal Elf Bar and plugged it in while keeping it on her bed.
‘I went to bed about 1/2 hour later and unplugged to taste. It tasted like vomit,’ Marine wrote.
‘For some dumb reason I plugged it back in then 5 minutes later it exploded and started smoking really bad.
‘It burnt a six-inch deep hole in our new mattress. Which was on fire.’
A 2023 study by the Hannover Medical School in Germany showed there were 2,035 cases of e-cigarette explosions admitted to US emergency departments from 2015 to 2017 – a majority of patients were men with an average age of 30.
Elf Bar is the most popular e-cigarette worldwide, generating over $271 million in the past year, according to retail data tracker Nielsen.
In June 2023, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) called for 180 stores across the US to stop selling Elf Bars.
The vapes are not approved for use by the FDA and have previously been linked to health problems, including lung damage and heart issues, and can lead youngsters to try other drugs.