What Pipe Bomb? Airport Mistakes Humidor For Suspicious Device

Bomb? What bomb? New York LaGuardia Airport officials were put in a frenzy over the weekend after a suspicious device thought to be a pipe bomb was discovered inside a passenger's carry-on bag.

After an investigation, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) found that the suspected “pipe bomb” was actually a homemade cigar humidor.

“The carry-on bag contained two torch-style lighters along with a homemade container made out of nine-inch long PVC pipe and end caps, which resembled a pipe bomb. However, when an end cap was removed, a partially smoked cigar was discovered inside,” a press release from TSA stated.

The item first raised red flags during a security checkpoint scan on Sunday. The owner of the carry-on was from Hopewell Junction, New York, and had said he created the device itself to be nothing else but to store his cigars so they didn’t dry out.

The TSA officers couldn’t allow the owner to bring it on the plane because anyone on the flight, including the crew and passengers, could have mistaken it as a bomb. The humidor and torch-style lighters were passed on for disposal.

“Our TSA officers are vigilant about looking for explosive devices,” TSA's press release added, “and this certainly gave the impression that it could be a pipe bomb that someone was attempting to carry onto an aircraft.”

Lisa Farbstein, a TSA spokesperson, tweeted out a photo of the item that was confiscated to show how similar the shape was to an actual pipe bomb.

This isn't the first time LaGuardia Airport's security team has flagged a suspected pipe bomb. In 2012, a TSA worker failed to properly dispose of two pipes from a traveler's bag that were deemed harmless. Hours later, the located items caused alarm among staff, resulting in a visit from the NYPD bomb squad. The items were later identified as homeopathic medical devices.