NEW YORK: A man is recovering at a hospital in New York after the tragic incident of a vaporizer exploding in his mouth, leaving him with a hole in his tongue, missing teeth, and burn marks all over his hands.

Brandon Barbero of Albany told WTEN that when he pressed the button to inhale smoke, the vaporizer blew up. “(It was) like a M80 bomb went off in my mouth,” Barbero said. “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.”

He said his initial thought was that his head “blew off.”

Brandon’s mother said she thinks the vaporizer’s battery exploded.

“The battery had exploded inside and everything shot out ... went into his mouth and burned everything,” she said. Barbero struggles for days before he could swallow.

This is one of several incidents where a vaporizer has exploded.

Tom Kiklas, a representative from the Tobacco Vapor Electronic Cigarette Association said explosions happen when there are battery issues. “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.”