I blame Guiness for most of the hype - they should never have accepted one off tests as proof of a new record holder in the first place.
I had some of my own hybrids tested by Warwick at 1,198,988 SHU when the current record holder was still the Bhut Jolokia, however I didn't see this as proof enough to say it was the new record holder!
Warwick admit that the method they use for HPLC testing is only indicative, and that it is not that accurate at levels over about 650K SHU.
Despite all of this and going back to the original thread, I still like the flavour of the Viper even if I have yet to try one that blows my head off !!