Use a low-output USB port rather than a fast phone charger, unplug it when the light says full, and never charge it overnight or on anything soft. These are small lithium cells with minimal protection circuitry, and every serious incident with them involves heat, a fast charger or being left connected.
Editorial desk · Written and checked in house · Updated
The cell in a small device is nothing like the one in a phone: less capacity, far simpler protection, and no thermal management to speak of. Most of the rules follow from that.
Do not charge a device that is cold from outdoors — let it reach room temperature first, because charging a cold lithium cell damages it. Equally, do not charge one that is already warm. If the body is hot to the touch at any point, disconnect it.
A device that gets hot while charging, swells, or blinks rapidly and refuses to charge should be taken out of use, put somewhere non-flammable, and disposed of properly. See disposing of hardware and lithium batteries.
A cell left flat for months may not come back, and one left at full charge for months ages faster. If a device is going in a drawer for a while, leave it around half charged and store it upright somewhere cool. See storing a device.
The battery in a sealed device is sized to the case, not to the contents, so a larger cartridge outlasts its own cell. The USB port exists so the device can finish what it holds rather than die half full. It does not make the cell a good one, and it does not mean the device is designed for long service.
Do not attempt to open a sealed device to reach the cell, do not charge through improvised contacts, and do not carry a loose device in a pocket with keys or coins — a short across the terminals is how these fail dramatically.
A used device is electronic waste with a lithium cell in it, and it does not belong in household rubbish or a kerbside recycling bin. Take it to a battery collection point, a household hazardous waste site, or a shop that accepts device take-back. Never crush, puncture or bin one.
Upright, mouthpiece up, somewhere cool and dark, around half charged if it is going away for a while. Heat thins the contents and causes leaks, cold thickens them and dries the wick, and a device left on its side floods its own airway.
A clog is nearly always cold, thick contents blocking a narrow airway, or condensation collecting in the mouthpiece. Warm the cartridge in your hands, stand it upright, clear the mouthpiece with a cotton bud or a paperclip, then take short gentle draws rather than hard ones.
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