This troper used to do this to "impress" his friends. But now that I know the dangers... I'll be careful.

The dangers are most certainly exaggerated; have you ever heard of one single instance of an ignited spray exploding the can? Much like the "lit cigarette exploding the gas pump" myth, it doesn't happen in reality. The escaping spray is too cool to transfer heat back from the point where enough oxygen mixes for combustion, a good couple inches forward from the spray nozzle.

This troper has done this on numerous occasions and has never been worried about the can exploding. The heat is all directed away from the can, and without any oxygen inside the can itself, it would be exceedingly difficult for ignition to happen inside. That said, an aerosol can left inside of a fire makes for some impressive fireballs.

'''''NOT A GOOD IDEA'''''. You may have gotten lucky when you've thrown an aerosol can on the fire, but for those who aren't lucky, the shrapnel can be dangerous. Even deadly.

I've done both of the above, flamethrowing and tossing them in the fire. I tend to fire it in short bursts to stop the can heating up. As for burning the can, they've never exploded like a bomb. Usually they pop at the seams on the top.

Even though the possibility of can exploding while doing flamethrower impressions is slim, aerosol cans were reportedly used as a makeshift bombs by children. The idea is that the nozzle is quickly taped down while depressed, and lit can is then thrown, exploding some time later. Not sure this is true, but I think that at some point when the nozzle melts, a failure could occur further down (on the other hand, there is a metal valve down there...).

A guy named Stephen Hopkins epicly fails this by spraying object with spray paint and then trying to light it on fire.

A certain person decided to light my arse on fire with this method whilst i was changing my trousers in the changing rooms in my school. My reaction was predictable, hilarious and (if you were outside when i started running with trousers around my ankles) freaking terrifying.