The UK retailer Argos included the wrong battery with several vaporizer kits, which forced a recall of otherwise safe Innokin and Smok vapor products.
Argos supplied consumers with two Samsung 25r 18650 batteries with its Smok Priv and Mag devices, as well as its Innokin Proton products. The Smok and Innokin devices are safe, however, the batteries supplied by Argos are not approved for use in e-cigarettes.
George Xia, co-founder and vice president of Innokin, said that the distributor in the UK packaged the Proton with replaceable 18650 batteries without Innokin having any idea of what type of battery was bundled with the Proton device.
“Argos made the decision of purchasing with their suppliers and not dealing with Innokin directly. Argos and a local distributor agreed there is nothing wrong with Innokin’s Proton device,” said Xia. “Our devices have been tested many times in independent labs and we sent Argos and the distributor all of our certificates from these tests.”
When Argos first announced the recall consumers were confused and believed the issue was the hardware. Argos later released a statement explaining the battery was the problem and the hardware was otherwise safe.
Stories of exploding e-cigarette batteries are often blamed on hardware manufacturers, however, the true culprit is most often an external battery that is supplied by either the retailer or consumer, according to several news sources.