Last Updated on October 23, 2023
You may know Elon Musk for his Mars colonization plans (SpaceX), his billion-dollar company (Tesla), or his dreams to build an underground tunnel network across the US (The Boring Company). But have you heard about his $500 flamethrowers?
The Flamethrower Phenomenon refers to a controversial consumer product that was developed and sold by The Boring Company, one of Musk’s ventures.
It was unveiled as a surprising addition to the company’s product lineup and quickly sparked consumer interest. As a result, it raised discussions over its safety, legality, and implications in the broader context of the company’s mission.
This article examines the captivating narrative behind the creation, launch, and subsequent controversy caused by this unconventional product.
Brief Overview of The Boring Company
The Boring Company, just like most of Musk’s ideas, started as a tweet. He was presumably stuck in traffic in Los Angeles on December 17, 2016, when he tweeted, “Traffic is driving me nuts. I am going to build a tunnel boring machine…”
Minutes later, he added another tweet that said, “I am actually going to do this.”
In January of the following year, Musk announced the first dig, accompanied by the company slogan: “Boring, it’s what we do.”
A month later, the company initiated its first major test project – digging a hole 50 feet wide and 15 feet deep on SpaceX premises.
What is the Boring Company’s Flamethrower Phenomenon?
To raise awareness and funds for The Boring Company’s projects, in December 2017, Musk announced the sale of novelty flamethrowers.
However, Musk didn’t start with flamethrowers right away. In fact, he started to sell Boring Company baseball hats at $20 each. To promote the caps, he posted them on Instagram with the caption, “Best hat ever. Flamethrower coming next.”
At this time, no one knew that he wasn’t joking. However, he started selling flamethrowers when all the 50,000 hats were sold. And all 20,000 flamethrowers were gone in just four days for $500 each. As a result, he raised $10 million.
You would think that flamethrowers are dangerous and that they might be subject to particular restrictions. While they are, indeed, the regulations state that as long as the flamethrowers don’t shoot flames further than 10 ft, they are perfectly fine with the US Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
But still, even Musk advised against buying them. He captioned an Instagram video of himself using a flamethrower: “Also, I want to be clear that a flamethrower is a super terrible idea.”
He added that no one should buy a flamethrower unless they want to have fun. And apparently, the 20,000 people who purchased these flamethrowers do like fun.
What Was the Real Application of the Flamethrower?
According to Musk, it was “great for roasting nuts” and also could come in handy in case of a zombie apocalypse.
Unsurprisingly, not everybody was happy with people buying weapons that can shoot fire. The Home Office reminded citizens that for anyone under 18, buying any imitation firearm was illegal and that a flamethrower was a prohibited weapon.
Also, California Assembly member Miguel Santiago was outraged by Musk’s newest idea. He wanted a ban on the sale of flamethrowers within California.
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Takeaway
Among Elon Musk’s audacious endeavors, The Boring Company’s flamethrower was the most unexpected and surprising.
While Musk is known for innovation, introducing the sale of flamethrowers demonstrated his penchant for blending novelty and controversy.
Compared to some of his ideas that elicited curiosity, the flamethrower was intriguing and humorously perplexed many people.
