Yep. It's a tradition at this point that I eat the first ripe pod whole. I'm praying that the brain strain ripens first.
Pretty sure the reaper is, but not by much. At any rate, it's less pointy and therefore easier to chew.
It might be in other cases, but last year this particular brainstrain produced pods that burned hotter for the first ten minutes, then died down pretty quickly until it hurt again many hours later. This individual reaper burned all the way through.