Cable has gone up in flames and has charred the HDMI port of my monitor ...

Sounds bad, is true. Had I left the room and not notice that because the cable could burn can happen bad really. Had the cable connected to an iMac to a second monitor "fuel" to. That had but somehow does not work, there was no picture. I then wanted to start sometime and new and have the cable over virtually forgotten since it had already disappeared behind a desk.

About a week later the cable to the HDMI side burst into flames. So I can only advise against Cablesson. Unfortunately I have not found where / how I can contact the seller, would like to send him the photos and to ask me what it looks like with a new monitor. The cable was practically new (even if it is long more than a year in the closet).

Addendum 12.04.2014:
Yesterday I found that not only my external monitor was affected but also the second Thunderbold connection my iMac has given up the ghost. Had only one external drive attached (second port was not used so far), so I did not notice it immediately.