Winter got you down? Tired of snow and ice that just won’t quit? Perhaps some shooting flames will ease your winter woes. Elon Musk‘s The Boring Company recently announced that aspiring pyromaniacal customers can preorder a company-branded flamethrower for the cool price of $500. Described on the company’s website as “the world’s safest flamethrower,” the latest device presented by Elon Musk is the end result of a pledge that Musk made this past December, in which he promised to start selling flamethrowers if The Boring Company sold 50,000 hats. Now that the hat milestone has been reached, Musk has kept his word – and he’s already sold $4 million worth.
Technically, The Boring Company’s flamethrower is not what it claims to be. A real flamethrower, such as the ones infamously used during World War II, is capable of shooting intense flames up to fifty feet. Agricultural flamethrowers, used for controlled burns, are also capable of throwing fire over a distance. In contrast, The Boring Company’s flamethrower is more akin to an oversized lighter or crème brûlée torch in terms of range.
Musk has humorously advertised the flamethrower as being “sentient.” He has similarly explained that the flamethrower’s safe word is “cryptocurrency” and that each flamethrower comes with a free blockchain. For safety’s sake, The Boring Company is also selling an admittedly overpriced fire extinguisher, with company branding of course, for $30. The Company also promises that “aspiring flamethrower aficionados will be sent a terms and conditions rhyme for review and acceptance” before they are granted the gift of fire. Whether The Boring Company intends to incorporate flamethrower technology into its tunnel-building efforts remains to be seen.
You can now buy your own Elon Musk ‘Boring Company’ flamethrower [Inhabitat]