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chinense Brown/Chocolate Bhutlah

Hey guys, the first batch of my 2017 plants are starting to sprout and it's got me thinking. I have two of the so called "Reaper Killers" in the form of the Jigsaw and Jay's Peach Ghost Scorpion but wouldn't it be so much nicer to have a full set of the three big name challengers?
 
Problem is, though, I have no idea which of the various Bhutlah strains is the "good" one.
 
Anyone willing to shed some light on the matter for me?
 
spicefreak said:
Hey guys, the first batch of my 2017 plants are starting to sprout and it's got me thinking. I have two of the so called "Reaper Killers" in the form of the Jigsaw and Jay's Peach Ghost Scorpion but wouldn't it be so much nicer to have a full set of the three big name challengers?
 
Problem is, though, I have no idea which of the various Bhutlah strains is the "good" one.
 
Anyone willing to shed some light on the matter for me?
Steve McLauren aka: standbyandfire, has his for sale finally on puckerbutt. His is one of the originals with supposedly a 3rd mystery cross mixed in.

I think there is also a strain from someone in the UK that's been around for a while as well.

http://store.puckerbuttpeppercompany.com/products/chocolate-bhutlah-seeds
 
none are the original youtube star that put up the challenge for hottest if i have the story correct the original was lost/died. so all of them now are just riding the name even though SM was the first to introduce the chocolate bhutlah so its probably the closest. or you can try the CS from duffy as its from the original bhutlahs creator.
 
i also heard jpgs is good but this is the first ive ever heard it called a reaper killer. but then again on any given plant variety there can be a reaper killer. ive had many varieties that blew reaper out of the water. reaper just got tested and had a better PR rep.
 
JUR-Z-Devil said:
i also heard jpgs is good but this is the first ive ever heard it called a reaper killer. but then again on any given plant variety there can be a reaper killer. ive had many varieties that blew reaper out of the water. reaper just got tested and had a better PR rep.
Ive never heard of jpgs being hotter than reapers either. But ive also never tried them.

I've heard the Bhutlah and a couple others are supposed to be hotter now.

Here is the vid for the Ted Barrus review on SM's Chocolate Bhutlah.

 
JUR-Z-Devil said:
i also heard jpgs is good but this is the first ive ever heard it called a reaper killer. but then again on any given plant variety there can be a reaper killer. ive had many varieties that blew reaper out of the water. reaper just got tested and had a better PR rep.
 
+1
 
IMO the original red brainstrain will kill a reaper any day of the week. And still the only super to have made me puke.
 
hogleg said:
 
+1
 
IMO the original red brainstrain will kill a reaper any day of the week. And still the only super to have made me puke.
I had seeds from cappy years ago. They grew awesome with 100% germination rate too.

I emailed him early last year and did get a response. Then when emailed him again in late summer, he never replied.
 
Also seems like after all the drama that went down and tends to surround potential new record hot strains, that those guys all disappear from the forums. Can't say that I blame them though. Having to publicly defend your claims constantly probably gets old quick.
 
honestly there are soooooo many varieties that are damn near identical in every way besides the  new name its current grower gave it that its really comparing apples to apples. im growing over 100 varieties this year but am sure that number will shrink mid season or next season as i cull varieties that i dont consider distinctive enough to have its own place in my garden and efforts
 
U)<now said:
I had seeds from cappy years ago. They grew awesome with 100% germination rate too.

I emailed him early last year and did get a response. Then when emailed him again in late summer, he never replied.
 
Yea now that you mention it, I haven't seen him on the boards in quite some time. Hope he is doing ok?
 
hogleg said:
 
+1
 
IMO the original red brainstrain will kill a reaper any day of the week. And still the only super to have made me puke.
Anyone know why the original brainstrain was never officially tested?
 
U)<now said:
Anyone know why the original brainstrain was never officially tested?
 
I think it was, and it came in just below the moruga which was the record holder at the time. I think with more testing and from certain badass growers it could have blown both the moruga and the reaper out of the water.
 
U)<now said:
Also seems like after all the drama that went down and tends to surround potential new record hot strains, that those guys all disappear from the forums. Can't say that I blame them though. Having to publicly defend your claims constantly probably gets old quick.
that is the exact reason as i begin to unveil my pepper line they will have no name. all pics will be heavily watermarked and they will be refered to as devilpods.com peppers. #1 #2 etc. their name will make it clear where to find it. too many people lose out on their time and work showing off and naming there variety before its available so by the time they do release all the cons have riding the wheels off already. bhutlah was being sold by name 2 years before sm ever released it. but he released the name.
 
hogleg said:
 
I think it was, and it came in just below the moruga which was the record holder at the time. I think with more testing and from certain badass growers it could have blown both the moruga and the reaper out of the water.
 
 
Ahh ok. Yeah, lots of controversy surrounding those 2 for sure. Some people say they are the same pepper...
 
http://thepepperseed.com/peppers/the-7-potpod-brain-strain/
 
http://thepepperseed.com/peppers/morouga-scorpion-7-pot-brain-strain/
 
http://thehotpepper.com/topic/24994-brain-strain-vs-ts-morouga/
 
http://thehotpepper.com/topic/26766-trinidad-7-pot-brain-strain/    (Ted apparently got banned from here, :rofl: )
 
U)<now said:
 
Didn't go thru your links, but far as I remember it was just a select pheno of a moruga. I could be wrong though?
 
And sorry for the highjack Spicefreak  ;)
 
Here is the text from the second link... (from 2012)
 
 
 
Shortly after the announcement came out that the morouga scorpion had tested at over 2 million scoville heat units a rumbling started in the hot pepper community that the morouga scorpion wasn’t actually a scorpion at all. It was a 7 pot, and not just an y 7 pot, but the 7 pot that in recent years has been referred to as the 7 pot brain strain. Right now the discussion of this topic is taking place in a few different forums and does appear to be resolved. Here’s what I’ve been able to piece together.
 

In July 2008 and August 2008 cmpman1974 posted pictures of what he was calling Trinidad Scorpion Morouga Blend. He indicated he received the seeds in early 2007. As usual great pictures, to the right is one from the forum thread linked to in the previous sentence. Check out the thread for the other pictures. In another area of that same site there are pictures and mention of the word “morouga scorpion” as early as September 2007. The author seems to indicate that the morouga scorpion is “new” and it likely a scorpion 7 pot hybrid. Specifically he says (translated):
 
“In 2007 and even more in 2008, many fans have grown varieties now known as super-hot.
Because of cross-pollinations, scrolls or random, have appeared a whole series of hybrids and variants.
In some cases the results are significant because they have been retained some typical characteristics (such as the sharpness, the roughness dell’esocarpo, the coating on the inner walls of placenta), but variants have shapes and / or new colors very interesting.
They saw and 7Pod Yellow Scorpion, Scorpion and 7Pod hybrids, super-hot chocolate-colored etc..
Among all deserve a mention Morouga Blend (probably hybrid Scorpion/7Pod) and Trinidad Douglah (super-hot chocolate with an incredible amount of placenta) “

Those mentions and pictures are the earliest I could find for the morouga blend scorpion. Overall there’s quite a bit of evidence online that supports the timeline and look of the morouga scorpion. Seems Chris was the best known source for this pepper and pictures and posts validate that he probably did indeed receive the seeds in early 2007.

Where the takes a turn for the interesting is when you start talking about the 7 Pot Brain Strain. I wrote a post on the brain strain in 2011 that includes links and photos…worth checking out if I don’t say so myself:-) The earliest mention I could find of the word “brain” in association with this pepper was September 18, 2008. While I haven’t been able to piece it together exact it looks like Pepper Ridge Farm aka Brain Strain also acquired his seeds in 2007. At this point it’s safe to say that PRF and cmpman1974 did not get their seeds from the same person. Same country/region…probably but not the same person.
 

If that was the end of the story, based on all of the pictures I have found and the dates when various things were posted I would say cmpman1974 and PRF received seeds from the same pepper from different people that were called different things. Happens all the time in pepper land. I would defer to the name Trinidad Scorpion Morouga Blend too since by all written and photo accounts it was the first name with an official name. Of course though that’s not where it ends though or there would be no point in this post! There’s speculation that as the post title suggests, the Morouga Blend is actually not a scorpion at all, it’s the 7 pot brain strain. Here are a few of the theories I have read…none of which at the time I am writing this have been proven one way or the other.
 
1. Jim Duffy received seeds for the 7 pot brain strain and grew those as well as the morouga blend scorpion seeds he indirectly received from cmpman1974. When it came time to send in seeds/samples for the test he sent in Brain Strain seeds, not Morouga Scorpion seeds.
2. The Morouga seeds cmpman1974 originally received were mislabeled and were indeed 7 pots, not scorpions. While no one’s flat out said this I’ve read posts by a number of people that indicate every morouga scorpion they have ever grown or seen has been smooth not bumpy like the morouga’s in cmpman1974’s pictures.
3. The 7 pot Brain Strain is not a 7 pot at all, it’s the morouga blend scorpion and was mislabeled when the original seeds were received.
4. Unbeknownst to PRF and/or cmpman1974 one or both sets of original seeds were crosses. What they ended up growing and subsequently spreading around was not what they thought it was.
What do I think…I’m not sure and by no means any kind of expert. If I had to put a theory out there I would say that the brain strain and morouga scorpion are not the same pepper. My guess is that the morouga scorpion is a 7 pot / scorpion hybrid and if you have the real deal it should look similar to all the pictures that cmpman1974 has posted. The Brain Strain is probably a 7 pot that shows traits that were picked up by the morouga scorpion when it was originally crossed with a 7 pot. The two peppers probably share some similar genetics and traits but if tested would be found to be distinctly different. Keep in mind a theory is just a fancy word for guess:-)
 
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