Elon Musk’s Boring Company Flamethrower Is Real, And On Sale

When Elon Musk announced on Dec. 10 that his tunneling venture, The Boring Company, would start selling flamethrowers after it ran out of hats, it was largely considered a joke from the man who has a sharp sense of humor. But he is also known for following through on a lot of things he says, and it turns out the flamethrower was no exception.

On Saturday evening, Musk posted a picture of his “little friend” on his Instagram account.

He also posted two other videos, one featuring himself, of the flamethrower in action.

The Boring Company flamethrower is available for pre-order on the company’s website if you are willing to spend $500 on it. Shipping and taxes will be extra. Clearly, the price tag was no deterrent for the 1,000 people who ordered it within 3 hours of Musk’s announcement.

What that also means is, once the company sells all 20,000 of the flamethrowers for $500 a pop, it would have raised $10 million from them. That is definitely a big step up from the $1 million it raised selling the Boring hat.

The Boring flamethrower comes with not one but two taglines. “Guaranteed to liven up any party!” was used by Musk in another tweet promoting the company’s latest offering. The other, “World’s safest flamethrower,” is something he had said even when he first announced it in December. And he addressed the safety aspect again on Saturday, talking about the rules set by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

But even though it is real now, reading some of Musk’s tweets can easily give the impression of this being an elaborate prank. Or maybe he is just being his funny self.

The text on the company’s website taking orders for the flamethrower also has a few laughs. For instance, there is the “fire extinguisher sold separately (for exorbitant amounts of money)” and the fact that “aspiring flamethrower aficionados will be sent a terms and conditions rhyme for review and acceptance” before the product is shipped to them.

The fire extinguisher is being sold for $30, which the company knows is a lot of money.

“Buy an overpriced Boring Company fire extinguisher! You can definitely buy one for less elsewhere, but this one comes with a cool sticker and the button is conveniently riiight above,” it says.

According to federal law, privately owning a flamethrower (not just a World War II relic, but even a working one) is completely legal. Two states in the country, California and Maryland, have some restrictions on it, but it is completely legal in the other 48 states.

Those outside the United States can also order the Boring flamethrower. They may need to pay additional customs fees, depending on local laws, and they should check the legality of owning a flamethrower in their countries before ordering one. Since it is a pre-order, the company said it would give a full refund to international customers not happy with the customs fees.