This is going to be a long one, so if you want to help me understand myself, understand yourself, and maybe join Peppers Anonymous, please get a cup of coffee.
Hi, my name is A.J. I have been a pepper addict for over 30 years. It started more with plants in general, when I lived with my parents. You couldnt get the good stuff back then and I didn't know one habanero from the next. I paused while I was in the Army. Lathered my eggs with hot sauce but who didn't. Discovered Soul Food and thought I liked it, but it too was another excuse to lather on the hot sauce.
Flash forward to a life with land and my true addiction surfaced again: Growing. Making the addiction even more of a challenge, the peppers had gotten much stronger. It wasn't like my youth of ditch habanero. No, these new peppers had some serious kick to them.
I think it was the New Mexico University that triggered my first understanding of my addiction. They published a report that said the Moruga Scorpion was the hottest in the world. I was already growing Moruga Scorpion but saw that the number two was the 7 Pot Brown. I had to grow it. So I did. Then Jim Duffy, who provided the seed stock for that test, said the pepper was specifically the 7 Pot Douglah. Back then there was only the brown Douglah so we did not mention its color. I had to grow it. Sometime later, there was a 7 Pot Douglah Red so I had to grow it. I thought my desire to grow the red was because it was such a cool play on words. Douglah loosely means brown. So it is a Red Brown pepper. It really means more than that, but that is another story and this one is long enough. How's that coffee? Need a refill? Where was I?
I think the next color set I noticed myself needing to complete was Fatalii. I had grown the most traditional yellow but heard about a red. Had to grow it. I think chocolate came next. Then white. I am not sure of the exact order. It didn't matter. If it was a Fatalii, I had to make it mine. It must be in my collection. Oh and maybe most importantly, I had to eat it.
Somewhere along the line, that original red ghost pepper that I once thought was the hottest pepper i the world. Well it was available in yellow, peach, chocolate, white, with bumps, without bumps... now there is an orange? Indian what? I have to have them. I must eat them. Still working on this one.
With bumps and without bumps made me realize my sets were not limited to colors. A Brazilian moruga? I am there!
Norris smoked cigars. On my drive down to one of the weekends where we were both vending, I purchased some cigars at a gas station. I remember the name: Rum Runners. I picked them because they were Pirate Cigars complete with a Jolly Rogers on the ring. Norris make a comment about they are not bad for a flavored cigar. I had no idea flavored cigars were off putting to collectors and purists like him. He showed me his travel collection.
His travel collection was a large brief case / small suitcase. At one point he explained there was thousands of dollars of cigars in that small collection. There were cigars from around the world, each neatly organized and labeled. I was amazed. More amazed because he explained it was part of his sobriety. That he used to do the same with marijuana. This would be a good time for a disclaimer.
Disclaimer: I have nothing against the use of medical or recreational marijuana. A thing only becomes a problem when it becomes a problem. If you can't earn a living because of an addiction then it is a problem. If you smoke dope, drink booze, or grow peppers and it doesnt damage your life, well it isn't a problem.
We talked much about when he smoked dope. Same thing as cigars. He had to have every strain in the world. Collected them the way I collect peppers. I started bringing peppers, at first he hated them. He started sharing cigars, at first I hated them. By the end of that festival season, he kind of liked peppers and I kind of liked cigars. It was from him that i learned I had an addictive or obsessive personality.
Sometime during all of this discovery, a sober former vampire and cutter burner joined the nightly cigar and pepper exchanges and cook outs. But that is another long winded story. Look for my Peppers and Vampires story.
How is that coffee?
The point of this story: Do you see yourself in some of this rambling? Are you an addict / OCD when it comes to peppers? Did they replace something else in your life, maybe something more destructive? Do you think they helped you avoid something more destructive in your life?
Hi, my name is A.J. I have been a pepper addict for over 30 years. It started more with plants in general, when I lived with my parents. You couldnt get the good stuff back then and I didn't know one habanero from the next. I paused while I was in the Army. Lathered my eggs with hot sauce but who didn't. Discovered Soul Food and thought I liked it, but it too was another excuse to lather on the hot sauce.
Flash forward to a life with land and my true addiction surfaced again: Growing. Making the addiction even more of a challenge, the peppers had gotten much stronger. It wasn't like my youth of ditch habanero. No, these new peppers had some serious kick to them.
I think it was the New Mexico University that triggered my first understanding of my addiction. They published a report that said the Moruga Scorpion was the hottest in the world. I was already growing Moruga Scorpion but saw that the number two was the 7 Pot Brown. I had to grow it. So I did. Then Jim Duffy, who provided the seed stock for that test, said the pepper was specifically the 7 Pot Douglah. Back then there was only the brown Douglah so we did not mention its color. I had to grow it. Sometime later, there was a 7 Pot Douglah Red so I had to grow it. I thought my desire to grow the red was because it was such a cool play on words. Douglah loosely means brown. So it is a Red Brown pepper. It really means more than that, but that is another story and this one is long enough. How's that coffee? Need a refill? Where was I?
I think the next color set I noticed myself needing to complete was Fatalii. I had grown the most traditional yellow but heard about a red. Had to grow it. I think chocolate came next. Then white. I am not sure of the exact order. It didn't matter. If it was a Fatalii, I had to make it mine. It must be in my collection. Oh and maybe most importantly, I had to eat it.
Somewhere along the line, that original red ghost pepper that I once thought was the hottest pepper i the world. Well it was available in yellow, peach, chocolate, white, with bumps, without bumps... now there is an orange? Indian what? I have to have them. I must eat them. Still working on this one.
With bumps and without bumps made me realize my sets were not limited to colors. A Brazilian moruga? I am there!
Part II - Enter Norris Stage Left
To understand the next major step in my understanding of this addiction, you have to also understand the nature of renaissance festivals and festivals in general. When it comes to merchants, we often travel great distances, camp on site and leave our family and friends behind. Often alcohol and mild drugs fill the off hours and decrease the pain of camping as our bodies get older. It was at such an event that I met a sober man by the name of Norris. Ah, but he was not always sober. In fact, he was in recovery. Something I could respect because I grew up with a drunk father who became sober.Norris smoked cigars. On my drive down to one of the weekends where we were both vending, I purchased some cigars at a gas station. I remember the name: Rum Runners. I picked them because they were Pirate Cigars complete with a Jolly Rogers on the ring. Norris make a comment about they are not bad for a flavored cigar. I had no idea flavored cigars were off putting to collectors and purists like him. He showed me his travel collection.
His travel collection was a large brief case / small suitcase. At one point he explained there was thousands of dollars of cigars in that small collection. There were cigars from around the world, each neatly organized and labeled. I was amazed. More amazed because he explained it was part of his sobriety. That he used to do the same with marijuana. This would be a good time for a disclaimer.
Disclaimer: I have nothing against the use of medical or recreational marijuana. A thing only becomes a problem when it becomes a problem. If you can't earn a living because of an addiction then it is a problem. If you smoke dope, drink booze, or grow peppers and it doesnt damage your life, well it isn't a problem.
We talked much about when he smoked dope. Same thing as cigars. He had to have every strain in the world. Collected them the way I collect peppers. I started bringing peppers, at first he hated them. He started sharing cigars, at first I hated them. By the end of that festival season, he kind of liked peppers and I kind of liked cigars. It was from him that i learned I had an addictive or obsessive personality.
Sometime during all of this discovery, a sober former vampire and cutter burner joined the nightly cigar and pepper exchanges and cook outs. But that is another long winded story. Look for my Peppers and Vampires story.
How is that coffee?
The point of this story: Do you see yourself in some of this rambling? Are you an addict / OCD when it comes to peppers? Did they replace something else in your life, maybe something more destructive? Do you think they helped you avoid something more destructive in your life?
Its all goooood here ! 
