Capsaicin Tolerance

[DoubleUp]

I apologize if this has been beaten to death in the past. My search of the forums did reveal this thread:
http://www.thehotpepper.com/showthread.php?16282-I-am-giving-up-hot-peppers
which is related, but I wanted to re-ignite the topic.

Anyway, my tolerance to heat levels keeps growing, and it makes me wonder: is this reversible? Has anyone given up the chili for a significant amount of time or so and found themselves a little shocked at how hot Cholula is again? Or is there irreversible cell damage involved?

Thanks for any pointers or stories!

 

[millworkman]

If you do not consume peppers daily, you will lose your tolerance.

 

[Nova]

Yes if you give up the hot stuff for a while (about three days for myself) you will find that the burn is worse. I am not sure if this is true for everyone but it certainly is for me.

 

[ipreferamediumroast]

There is some tolerance decline, but if you post on this board, cholula will never ever be hot to you. However, a friend of mine (pepper head) was telling me a few yrs ago there was some place in a part of the world where the people eat tons of hot peppers and there was some disaster in which a bunch of them ended up in some refugee camp. Many of them after awhile were getting sick and feeling like crap. The docs had no idea what was wrong (sort of like doctors here). Someone suggested giving them peppers because that was what their systems were use to and they recovered.

 

[DoubleUp]

There is some tolerance decline, but if you post on this board, cholula will never ever be hot to you. .

Yeah, I guess cholula was a bad choice. I love the stuff, but I don't think it ever did much in terms of heat...

 

[cherrybomb]

cholula's known to be a pretty mild sauce, but with an excellent flavour.certainly a favourite of mine despite the lack of heat.

 

[JayT]

I find that my tolerance to hot sauce stays pretty much the same, but my tolerance to fresh peppers is more up and down. Probably because I only usually eat fresh in the summer.