Yea I seen that on the local News here, I really feel sorry for that guy......he probably had no idea about the dangers of a Li-Ion battery device. I wondering if something in e-cigarette shorted and caused that to explode, they did say on the News he's been using it for a couple of years; so it wasn't brand new.
There is no mentioning about Li-Ion batteries in the article. It could be just normal Ni-Mh batteries. This doesn't mean they are safe but we can't blame everything to Li-Ions.
Yowch! You never know what brand the manufacturer uses in those things. Esp. since they are often made in China. If you look, you can find some that accept larger cells and give you a choice to use generic brand or OEM cells.