Tulsa Man's E-Cigarette Catches Fire While Charging

The e-cigarette craze has exploded across Oklahoma over the last two years, but exploding products may be killing part of the buzz.

A Tulsa man was recently forced to call the fire department after charging his e-cig. There are dozens of stories similar to Kyle Czeschin's. He said the fire could have been a lot worse had he not been around.

"Everything was on fire, my laptop was on fire, my lamp was on fire, the shades," Czeschin said.

He said he was doing the dishes, when suddenly he saw a huge flash out of the corner of his eye.

"I had [my e-cigarette] plugged into my laptop, charging it like always."

Czeschin purchased his e-cigarette a couple months prior at Camoland in Tulsa, hoping it would help him quit the pack-a-day habit.

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"You're thinking $6 a pack, and I can go get fluid for two or three dollars," he said.

Czeschin asked Camoland to refund his money for the e-cig.

They declined to go on camera, but say they aren't held liable after a purchase and warn their customers about the dangers of not using a wall adapter.

Jeff Barnard with Vapor Kings said they have a similar policy and have had similar issues with customers.

"It's very seldom that it happens," Barnard said.

But when it does, Barnard said the cause can be from plugging an e-cig charger directly into a USB port on a computer.

"A lot of people do it, a lot of people have zero problems, but do you want to take that chance?" Barnard said.

He said the e-cig explodes when the amps going into the battery is higher than what's required.

"And like any battery acid, it's going to expand, and when it expands and heats up it's got to go somewhere," he said.

Czeschin said, even despite the set back, he's not going back to the real thing.

"I think it just makes me want to research about the e-cigs and do a little more thinking about who I buy from," he said.

Barnard said not all e-cigs are made the same, and each one uses different levels of amps.

He said that's why they warn against mixing and matching charging components across brands.