Under a cheerless Blackburn sky, shoppers scurry past a St George’s cross lying sodden and twisted at the foot of the town hall’s flagpole.
asserted
shoppers → scurry → flagpole
Somehow on this wet Wednesday morning, the scene feels like a metaphor for the once-mighty Lancashire town itself.
asserted
scene → feel → town
In its heyday, Blackburn was the cotton weaving capital of the world – and its looms clothed the British Empire.
asserted
looms → clothe → Empire
Its glory days have long slipped beyond the fringes of living memory.
asserted
days → slip → memory
Neglected now, the town struggles with all too familiar social problems.
asserted
town → neglect → problems
Some contend, though, that not all is bleak, that Blackburn is witnessing green shoots of hope.
asserted
Blackburn → contend → hope
Other former industrial powerhouses have seen similar decline, yet there is something about this town that sets it apart from the rest.
asserted
that → see → rest
Phil Riley, the Labour leader of Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council, has spoken of receiving a much-needed employment boost from what he calls ‘very reputable’ local businesses at the ‘leading edge of the industry’.
asserted
he → speak → industry
Something to make those hard-headed Victorian mill owners nod approvingly?
asserted
owners → make → ?
As it turns out that Blackburn has become the unlikely vape capital of Europe.
asserted
Blackburn → turn → Europe
Or, as many call it, the Silicon Valley of vapes.
asserted
many → call → vapes
Not only does it have more e-cigarette shops per person than anywhere else in Britain, its factories make millions of vapes every year, supplying the whole country and the world.
In all, the Blackburn firms to which Mr Riley refers rake in half a billion pounds in annual sales and employ more than 2,000 people, from assembly line workers to chemists.
asserted
Riley → have → chemists
At any given moment, scientists working in laboratories in the former mill town are devising new flavours for e-liquids, or vape juice, which end up arranged across store shelves like enticingly coloured sweets.
asserted
which → give → sweets
Blackburn's glory days have long slipped beyond the fringes of living memory and the Lancashire town now struggles with all too familiar social problems
asserted
town → slip → problems
As the unlikely centre of the UK's vape industry, Blackburn has more e-cigarette shops per person than anywhere else in Britain
A worker prepares vape fluid at the Totally Wicked factory in Blackburn, where the company now has around 400 employees
Unsurprisingly, this business success story hasn’t been greeted with universal fanfare.
asserted
story → have → fanfare
Yet some involved in the trade are evangelical in their desire to help save lives by weaning people off cigarettes.
asserted
some → involve → cigarettes
To that end, vapes were initially seen as a positive force – and still are in some quarters.
asserted
vapes → see → quarters
Some 5.4million British people regularly puff on e-cigarettes.
asserted
people → puff → cigarettes
But concerns grew when the inevitable happened: children who had never previously tried cigarettes became hooked.
asserted
who → grow → cigarettes
Little wonder when the flavours came with names such as cherry ice, pink lemonade and bubble gum.
asserted
flavours → come → ice
All vastly more appealing than bitter tobacco, yet still delivering a nicotine hit.
asserted
All → deliver → hit
Many had considered cigarettes largely a thing of the past and, buoyed by statistics and shifting attitudes, felt confident their children would never take up the habit.
asserted
children → consider → habit
Yet here was dreaded nicotine in sheep’s clothing.
asserted
nicotine → dread → clothing
It transpired that more than half of schoolchildren surveyed in Blackburn admitted to using nicotine vapes, which, like cigarettes, should only be sold to people over the age of 18.
asserted
which → transpire → 18
Nagging worry turned to panic here with the publication of a report two months ago which revealed that a quarter of youngsters have used a drug-laced vape.
asserted
quarter → nag → vape
It was shocking enough for parents to learn that some vapes are sold as containing Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the psychoactive compound in cannabis.
asserted
vapes → learn → cannabis
But government research suggested many of them actually contain the deadly ‘zombie’ drug Spice, a man-made synthetic cannabinoid substance.
uncertain
many → suggest → drug
As foster mother Mel Williams, who lives just outside the town, said last week: ‘It’s terrifying and put the wind up a lot of people.’
asserted
It → live → people
In all, 28 per cent of school-age children in Blackburn who were surveyed admitted to smoking a THC or Spice-infused vape.
asserted
who → survey → vape
Sometimes, unscrupulous shop owners sell vapes to under-age buyers.
asserted
owners → sell → buyers
Janine Day, who works for Early Break, a charity which helps young children who are facing substance abuse issues, says: ‘In schools, you get one or two young people who find these vapes and take them in, then share them around their peer group.’
asserted
who → work → group
Vapes were invented in their modern form by the Chinese pharmacist Hon Lik in 2003 after his father died from lung cancer.
asserted
father → invent → cancer
They are made from a battery-powered heatable coil and a flavoured fluid which the coil vaporises so it can be inhaled.
asserted
it → make → which
It was in Blackburn, in 2007, that they first took off in the UK – thanks to a man called Jason Cropper, the son of an architect father and a former textiles machinist mother.
asserted
they → take → father
He left school aged 16 with just an O-level in metalwork, spent eight years in the Royal Navy, then moved to London where he was ‘in and out of work’ due to alcoholism.
asserted
he → leave → alcoholism
Jason got clean in 2001 then took a three-year degree in homeopathic medicine and, after graduating, sold alternative remedies on eBay.
asserted
Jason → get → eBay
While trying to launch a quit-smoking website, he received a photo of an e-cigarette – he had never heard of them before – from a Chinese woman.
asserted
he → try → woman
He bought a couple of dozen kits from her and a few varieties of juice and put them on eBay.
asserted
He → buy → eBay
They sold out immediately.
asserted
They → sell → ?
Jason recalls trying his first vape in 2007.
asserted
Jason → recall → 2007
…and 64 more, not listed.
The Aporia
