heat Pepper Economics - Why you should stop talking about the "World's Hottest"

When people ask me what the hottest pepper is, I say the "Reaper" is the current record holder but that others may outrank it on any given day, and that new crosses are coming every year.  For me, these cross-breads (Reaper, Jigsaw, Brown TSMB x Douglah, stressed varieties, etc.) make the record more trivial.  I still think it's great accomplishment, but doubt it will stand long - as it may soon or already be eclipsed by others.  Plus, there's so much consumer confusion as products containing just Habs still claim "World's Hottest."  These ultrahot crosses are already merging into the "extract" column, with capsaicin overriding everything else. Those that can detect any desirable flavors must have incredible palates.  I love heat, but think the flavor curve sharply diminishes after the bhut/naga level.
 
As a hobbyist, I will still grow some of these varieties as a novelty.  But my focus is on the heat/flavor/production nexus.  I have also found the varieties above the bhut/naga level tend to be less prolific in my area.
 
Mr. Hill said:
TBH I broken many state and USA Records when I was competing, and they would mean nothing to anyone on THP and don't care to or even want to think or talk about the Records or anything I did when I was competing.  Pretty much Jealousy, lies with a topping of greed turned me so much against what I competed in that I asked that all my Records be taken off the books but the club wouldn't. LOL    So from someone that had records only thing Records are for is someone to brake them.. LOL  
 
Kind of like when someone requests that all their writings be burned/destroyed after death and when the person dies, they publish everything ;) .
 
hottoddy said:
When people ask me what the hottest pepper is, I say the "Reaper" is the current record holder but that others may outrank it on any given day, and that new crosses are coming every year.  For me, these cross-breads (Reaper, Jigsaw, Brown TSMB x Douglah, stressed varieties, etc.) make the record more trivial.  I still think it's great accomplishment, but doubt it will stand long - as it may soon or already be eclipsed by others.  Plus, there's so much consumer confusion as products containing just Habs still claim "World's Hottest."  These ultrahot crosses are already merging into the "extract" column, with capsaicin overriding everything else. Those that can detect any desirable flavors must have incredible palates.  I love heat, but think the flavor curve sharply diminishes after the bhut/naga level.
 
As a hobbyist, I will still grow some of these varieties as a novelty.  But my focus is on the heat/flavor/production nexus.  I have also found the varieties above the bhut/naga level tend to be less prolific in my area.
 
Personally, when it comes to peppers, I don't turn to Guinness World Records for anything.
 
However, when I want to learn about the world's longest sandwich, I will look them up:
http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/1000/longest-sandwich
 
It wasn't like I didn't do it, I just didn't want to be in any way Associated with most of the people more...   LOL
 
Spicegeist said:
 
:rofl:  That's hilarious she could talk about the peppers in school, very cool :cool: .  I think the bhut is a cross between a Fatalii and a Lota Bih, I swear these little C. frutescens look just like little baby bhuts on the inside with little chambers, but that's another conversation...
spice what can you tell me about the LOTAH BIH??,
 
I GREW IT LAST SEASON AND CANT FIND ANY INFO ON IT??
 
THANKS YOUR FRIEND jOE
 
It's a frutescens from India...sold by Frontal Agritech.  'Reported' to have a SHU of 300,000.  I DO NOT believe this stat.  It's a very hot one though.  I grew it very early on when released.  A buddy got the seeds out of dried flakes sold by the company. lol.  We germinated the seeds!!
 
Chris
 
Got some Lotah Bih from you Joe and started seeds very late. I've still some hanging on my plant waiting for ripening, took forever but it was little shaded. Like Chris said is not a superhot but plant/pods traits let me believe is a sort of frutescens/chinense intersection, very cool! A hint of chinense taste too but mostly "dry" heat that i like very much.
Good points in this thread, the bhut was surely a big jump from previous record holder and also fascinating because it was supposedly a landrace unknown to western world. From now on the new hottest will be mostly hybrids.
You should try a bhut-only season Charles! :)

Cya

Datil
 
Worlds hottest only means money maker most people.

I grow for shape and mostly flavor. As with taste. That's subjective. Some can say it taste fruity while someone else might say it taste like battery acid.

Unfortunately I bought into the hype and got the bad End of it thanks to a seed vendor
 
Datil said:
Got some Lotah Bih from you Joe and started seeds very late. I've still some hanging on my plant waiting for ripening, took forever but it was little shaded. Like Chris said is not a superhot but plant/pods traits let me believe is a sort of frutescens/chinense intersection, very cool! A hint of chinense taste too but mostly "dry" heat that i like very much.
Good points in this thread, the bhut was surely a big jump from previous record holder and also fascinating because it was supposedly a landrace unknown to western world. From now on the new hottest will be mostly hybrids.
You should try a bhut-only season Charles! :)

Cya

Datil
 
 
I like the Lota Bih.  As for a bhut-only season, that is exactly what I'm doing in 2014, well 95% or so... a few always sneak onto my list when I'm not looking ;) .
 
Spicegeist said:
 
I have very little concrete information on it.. just that it's from India...
ok thanks
yeah that's about as much as I know also although im told its actually a stabilized hybrid, I got my seeds from Brazil
 
your friend Joe
Datil said:
Got some Lotah Bih from you Joe and started seeds very late. I've still some hanging on my plant waiting for ripening, took forever but it was little shaded. Like Chris said is not a superhot but plant/pods traits let me believe is a sort of frutescens/chinense intersection, very cool! A hint of chinense taste too but mostly "dry" heat that i like very much.
Good points in this thread, the bhut was surely a big jump from previous record holder and also fascinating because it was supposedly a landrace unknown to western world. From now on the new hottest will be mostly hybrids.
You should try a bhut-only season Charles! :)

Cya

Datil
ah yes I remember sending it to you!!
 
yes what you know of it is what I know, its a hybrid
 
thanks your friend joe
 
I agree with Spicegeist's OP. As a first year grower, I was only interested in what I could get from the local big box stores to begin with (bells cos the wife wanted them, and jalapeno's, cayenne and habs for food use and sauce). However, even as a new pepper grower I knew there were hotter peppers than the bhut, I knew the Butch T was the record holder at the time, I knew there were potentially hotter peppers still, yet the bhut was the 1 pepper I HAD to try, simply due to the amount of hype it had received in the media. Thanks to THP I got to make that happen, as well as trying much hotter peppers including the Butch T, reaper, douglah, TSMB and brains.No other pepper I've tried, no matter how much hotter they've been, has given me as much excitement or enjoyment at conquering, as trying my first ghost. Sure, they've hurt me a lot more, but even trying the reaper for the first time after it was crowned the new Guinness hottest didn't give me the same satisfaction as the ghost, and that's simply due to the amount of press the bhut got. 
Also agree with point 2 in the OP. I've only met 1 person here who has known the bhut wasn't the hottest anymore. Every other time I've mentioned I'm trying to grow peppers that are hotter than habs all I get is "you mean the ghost?". 
I don't think any pepper will ever reach the same level of mainstream mysticism that the bhut did. 
 
Tigahb8 said:
Relax, all the hype is just increasing super hots popularity and making them more readily available to all of us,
which is a good thing!  :dance:
 
Exactly!
 
MeatHead1313 said:
No other pepper I've tried, no matter how much hotter they've been, has given me as much excitement or enjoyment at conquering, as trying my first ghost.
 
I've been growing the (red) ghost for a few years now and after a year of growing all sorts of other super hots, the ghost is still at, or near, the top of the list for me.
 
Sawyer said:
 
Exactly!
 
 
I've been growing the (red) ghost for a few years now and after a year of growing all sorts of other super hots, the ghost is still at, or near, the top of the list for me.
 
Same here. Well, I grow other nagas and a hybrid bhut (accidental cross with another naga) that's more productive but has the same taste and heat. The nagas are my favorite.
 
Character of the heat and the flavor for me.
Several dozens of interesting crosses to try, and that damned Nigel FORCING me to consider more every week. :tear:
 
I admit I did a Reaper and a half---with fluid leaking from *almost* every orifice---and again more leakage from other places the next morning---just because I really liked the flavor.
 
And more pods yet to try than I have space to grow them. :twisted:
 
Datil said:
 
Slightly OT, has anyone grown the Mem Jolokia?
I will probably try it in the next season, even if i don't expect it to be that hot... waiting for some seeds to come :)
 
Cya
 
Datil
 
I'll be curious to see how these grow out for you.  Where did you find the seed?
 
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