The money quote in the second video is at 11:35: “It’s very spicy”

I learned a lot from the Dirty Jobs episode, where again Ed Currie is just fine, but one of the crew ends up lying flat on the floor after trying a chip dosed with Pepper X. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5TZtQAYOtnA

In the beginning of the episode Ed had a scoop of Carolina Reaper seeds, about 25k of them, and says he gets $7 for every 10, I wonder how Pepper X will end up working out.

I think he didn't patent the Reaper. He charges $7 for 10 seeds, but you can get the seeds and Reaper products from other places. Pepper X is going to be exclusive to his company and he's not selling seed.

Ordering from other places is really hit or miss though. I’m reminded of my previous “Carolina Reaper” order from China and it turned out to be some kind of green Serrano…

A whole year down the drain to save a few bucks taught me a lesson about buying quality seeds really quick.

I mean, I wouldn't trust any seeds being bought from a non-brand in China. I thought they are supposed to irradiate biological shipments from other countries? You can get reputable reaper seeds from other sources in the US. I would still recommend buying directly from puckerbutt since they did the work to develop it.

I doubt sketchy seed or plant orders on Amazon follow any sort of proper protocols.

Amazon should not allow these, but are shamelessly callous towards any external risk. A pest coming in on seeds or plant matter can easy become a multi billion dollar agricultural problem.

There is no way anyone should be able to order bootleg plant material with a clean conscience. You save a couple bucks yourself but in the process buy a mega-billions anti-lottery ticket for everyone else.

It should be able to reassemble the DNA straight out of the product and then Crispr-Cas9 the changes into an existing pepper plant (assuming money and time are no object).

You wouldn't pirate a pepper!

PeterPiper pirated a pack of proprietary peppers

This probably wouldn't be as expensive as you think.

Looks like 10:20 is a good time stamp on the YouTube link if you just want to watch them all eat one.

I suspect a good way to enjoy pepper might be to dull your senses by either getting old or getting covid.

Covid only affects taste, not the sensation of spice.

I though it dulled super-hot.

From a purely anecdotal perspective, my experience was that COVID eliminated my sense of taste, and left my sense of very hot food unchanged as far as could be noticed. The result was a very unpleasant meal.

nope. i had covid and lost my sense of smell/taste.

i had a bottle of last dab and tried to see if the "heat" feeling also went away -- i can 100% tell you that not only it did not, but it actually felt worse because i could not taste the sauce, only the heat.

To add to the sibling comments. My first hint at getting COVID was that my local takeaway curry didn't taste of anything, but the usual fiery heat was still there. I almost phoned up the shop to have a moan about them sending out this tasteless dish but realised that I might have gotten the plague. I took a rapid test and lo and behold I was positive for COVID. It took me weeks to get my sense of taste back again.

On the other hand, it completely kills the wasabi/horseradish sensation.

Do you mean that tingling sensation that goes up from nose to the scalp?

Yes. I could eat spoons of horseradish and not feel anything on covid.

I see! I assume the same for onions? Onions and wasabi give me similar sensations.

> dull your senses by either getting old or getting covid.

I suspect neither would work to dull sensitivity to capsaicin since it works by binding directly to a specific receptor on the afferent sensory nerve cell. Repeated exposure to capsaicin probably helps as substance P is depleted.

Even if that helps your mouth up front, that's not going to help you the next day...

My dentist damaged my lingual nerve during a filling and half of my tongue (left side) has very little sensation (including taste). It does make eating the habaneros I grow from my garden a little odd. I have to keep them on the right side of my mouth to really enjoy them!

One thing I've done with habanero peppers is blend them up with some oil, and then mix a very small amount with mayo to make a spread for sandwiches.

The oils help carry the flavors and the mayo helps dull the spiciness. It's actually quite delightful and gives you a way to control how spicy you want it to be while still getting to experience the other flavors of the pepper.

Add a few other seasonings (paprika, cumin, garlic powder) and you've basically got the Taco Bell quesadilla sauce

One time I processed a lot of hot peppers and was foolish enough to do it bare handed. I can't taste things with my hand but it was burning and hurting to the point where I couldn't sleep that night from the pain. I don't think a mouth with duller senses and a lot of taste from covid would increase the enjoyment of a pepper.

I really like the show. I’m mildly addicted to hot food.

“I love the flavor. I think there’s some oak in it… and pencil.” I’d never seen the host be in this much pain.

[delayed]

They do. Apparently this is the best they can do for a pepper they were mainly looking for spice out of.

There's many other varieties where flavour is a priority.

I think they did care about flavor, as was mentioned in a news article interview about Pepper X. I don’t remember the full quote, but something like “you can’t just make it hot, it has to taste good”. But maybe it’s hard indeed to detect any flavor once you’re dealing with 2.6M Scoville units.

They almost took out chili Klaus lol

I hate to be that guy but literally dying?

I guess, in some sense, we all are all the time?

"Literally slipped through the cracks of time" is still my favorite though.

Figure of speech. That's all.

A dumb one. The word "literally" is already used to specify that the phrase following it is not a figure of speech. There are plenty of ambiguities in natural languages, and layering them will only make things unnecessarily complicated.

It was a valid use of the word. Language evolves.

"in effect; in substance; very nearly; virtually: I literally died when she walked out on stage in that costume."

https://www.dictionary.com/browse/literally