It seemed to have started off as a joke: Tesla CEO Elon Musk told fans back in December that his infrastructure and tunneling company—fantastically-named The Boring Company—would begin selling flamethrowers if it sold out of its 50,000 promotional The Boring Company hats.
The hats sold like hotcakes, and as it turns out, Musk kept his word: On Jan. 27, he announced The Boring Company flamethrower on Twitter, a $500 handheld flamethrower available for pre-order on the company’s website.
Musk posted videos of the flamethrower in action on Instagram and Twitter, and began live-tweeting sales.
“Obviously, a flamethrower is a super terrible idea,” he tweeted on Saturday evening. “Definitely don’t buy one … unless you like fun.”
That same night, The Boring Company sold its first 1,000 flamethrowers (out of the 20,000 total available for purchase), according to Musk.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BeeYW0NA1HU/
By Sunday evening, the Boring Company had sold 4,000 flamethrowers. And by Monday, the company had sold half of the flamethrowers available for pre-order, hitting 10,000 by 4 p.m. ET. Incidentally, the company also sold around 3,000 of its $30 fire extinguishers, Musk told a fan on Twitter.
Musk was also having plenty of fun promoting the flamethrowers. “ATF says any flamethrower with a flame shorter than 10 ft is A-ok,” he tweeted on Saturday night. “Our design is max fun for least danger. I’d be way more scared of a steak knife.”
https://www.instagram.com/p/BeeUSFwgLrM/
Personally, I’m not all that surprised by the success of the Boring Company’s latest venture: Everything Musk touches seems to turn to gold, and the eccentric businessman has developed an almost cult following among those who would like to follow in his footsteps.
Still, it’s a pricey toy—would you spend $500 on a flamethrower?
Kenza Moller is a writer and editor based in Toronto. She's into psychology, travel, and running, and often falls down random Wikipedia rabbit holes. More.
