I feel like it had to of been plugged in to the wall do the kind of damage they are saying it did. I wouldnt be surprised if he was one of those guys that customizes their ecigs too, one article said he had been using them for 2 years.
They are tiny aren't they? Size of a cigarette.
No idea what kind of power they run on, would have to be some kind of lithium battery? Point being, whatever powers these things, unless you had some high powered explosive and a tiny blasting cap inside it, the energy from whatever power source these use is impossible to do what the article says happened.