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heat Ed Currie's newest hottest pepper
- Thread starter Boris
- Start date
Voodoo 6 said:
Not saying that happened or that it did not happen. But the Reaper vs. Primo argument brings up a very valid point. When South West Biolabs tested reapers and primo both grown in my gardens with the same general conditions, the two were very close on SHU. I do think Reaper beat Primo but it was by a hair and only one pepper of each were sampled. Makes me think if other peppers from the same plants could have resulted in Primo winning.
Again, not siding one way or the other. Rather I am saying they look alike and their heat range is alike. So why is it the Carolina Reaper is what it is, almost a household word. But the Primo is mostly a chili head thing? All I can come up with is marketing. Pepper Joe was frigging AMAZING in that department. Remember, the man had a long career in corporate America marketing clothing. I forget which business it was, but it was one of the big ones. Maybe fashion bug?
I think maybe Mr. Currie and Pepper Joe had a falling out. But I really think teaming up with Pepper Joe was one of the smartest things Mr. Currie did. Today, Mr. Currie continues to amaze me with his marketing skills. He is a very smart man. I forget how to spell his last name, so going to call him Mr. Primo (Troy I think) and I have emailed each other. He too seems very smart. But I think his smarts are more along the line of horticulture. Hard to put into words. Mr. Primo seems more my kith than Mr. Currie. I have about zero business sense, but I do think I am a good grower. So not trying to trash on either, just thinking the money is more in the business smarts.
I'm fairly new to the whole hot pepper world, but I'd always thought of Mr. Primeaux as a modest guy who's more in it for the community and enjoyment vs Mr. Currie, who seems to also go for that aspect, but with a much bigger focus on titles and money. But of course, any commercial farm on the scale his is has to think about income.AJ Drew said:
Voodoo 6 said:
Thank you for the compliment. I remember a song with lyrics like: "If you wanna be rich, you gotta be a bitch". It was years ago, early 80s. I only remember because I was in the Army at the time. I remember listening to it in the enlisted club.
I do think you can still make fair money for fair work, but you can only do so much. The next step is employees. Now there is where you can either take advantage and make money rapidly or decide you are in it for the long run, pay and treat employees well, share the wealth, and build loyalty. I think in the long run that creates a business that is much sturdier and maybe more profitable than the folk who are in it for the instant cash.
Currently, every item in my Renaissance Festival booth is made by hand, most in the booth while I demonstrate. A decade ago, before I lost my mind, I sold imported knives and swords with huge mark ups. My crew was guaranteed fifty bucks a day each or 10% of gross sales & always fed. Often I would by the bier too. They worked their asses off, never stole, slept in the booth and acted as security.
At that same fair was a booth that sold the same sort of junk. The crew there was underpaid, treated poorly, never fed. They would brag about how much they were ripping the booth off for. One offered to rip off merchandise and sell it to me for a ridiculously low price.
Shop ended with my brain trauma. But I suspect if it had not that in the long run I would have done much better than the competition. If you are fair, things work out. Just not quickly.
You could probably rock out other hand crafted gear like bike sprockets or kitchen knives, those things are in big demand. I prefer to hang out with the cool kids. I am not sure if Primo is working on anything in the garden as I don't do the Facebook thing, but hopefully he has a few up the sleeve.
I am still at one fair, all I can manage. Everything in the booth is hand made. Most of it is by me. Yep, I do a lot of things like bottle openers. Have new friend who is putting out his stuff too. Thing is, its a hobby. My kids love the fair but I have time and physical limitations. So not really looking to expand that part of my life. Improve it yes. Get better at the craft sure. But have to stay focused on the farm more than the forge.
AJ Drew said:
In my view, the big difference between the two is that the Reaper has a catchier name, and holds the Guinness title, both of which I would imagine are very helpful with marketing the pepper. I remember reading an article that said that Puckerbutt's sales increased by something like a factor of 8 (IIRC) after the Reaper won the Guinness title. So the title matters. If the Primo had been submitted to Guinness back in 2005, my guess is that the general public would never have heard of the Ghost pepper, and maybe not the Reaper either. That "world's hottest pepper" title matters for marketing, and for generating interest with the general public. Sure, most of us on THP understand that the current titleholder isn't necessarily the hottest pepper on the planet. But people outside the hobby (in other words, most people) will probably be far more impressed by the Guinness title than we are.
BlackFatalii, yes the Guinness title is excellent marketing. But then the next obvious question is how much money can a person spend on marketing. As I understand it, you need lots of testing before you can submit. That is money. Have emailed a bit with Mr. Primo. Not enough to remember how to spell his last name the real way. But enough to get the idea he is working class and not really able to throw money around on promoting a new pepper.
I do not remember the figure Mr. Currie said it took to get the Guinness title but as I recall it was a fortune to someone like me.
I do not remember the figure Mr. Currie said it took to get the Guinness title but as I recall it was a fortune to someone like me.
Fair enough. I wasn't criticizing Troy Primeaux for not pursuing the title or spending his hard-earned money to promote his pepper. That is his prerogative. But you asked why the Reaper is almost a household name, while the Primo is mostly just a chilehead thing. My point was that the Reaper holding the Guinness title is a big part of the reason for that difference. Had the Reaper never won the title, it would likely have ended up as just another face in the crowd of high-end superhots that are out there now.
The fact that someone created a topic titled "Faking a new world hottest" gives an idea of how much credibility the guinness gets. Like I said before, a lot of marketing, few to nothing to do with growing.
You mentioned Troy Primo: I wonder how much money he could make had he released Creeper seeds.
But he didn't. Cause it's not stable, he knows it and doesn't want to disappoint people.
I talked to him little ago about BBM seeds: most of the vendors are selling seeds, still he is not sure about him selling those too.
I agree with you, he may not be rich, but he's definitely cool.
You mentioned Troy Primo: I wonder how much money he could make had he released Creeper seeds.
But he didn't. Cause it's not stable, he knows it and doesn't want to disappoint people.
I talked to him little ago about BBM seeds: most of the vendors are selling seeds, still he is not sure about him selling those too.
I agree with you, he may not be rich, but he's definitely cool.
Guitarman said:
If this gets back to him, I hope he takes it well. Normally I would not use the word cool today. But now that I think on the few conversations I have had with him, ye cool fits. So does groovy but I think that might involve snapping fingers to bad poetry. I think what I am saying is I imaging meeting him for lunch in a coffee shop. Most of the other big names in the seed business I am thinking more like a fancy restaurant. Especially the original Pepper Joe.
Nothing against any of them. Just different type of people and I am not comfortable in fancy restaurants.
Speaking of Primo, saw this on FB.
https://www.facebook.com/rtprimo/posts/10210273844306479
https://www.facebook.com/rtprimo/posts/10210273844306479
Most of the normies i know still think that the Ghost is the record-holder, LOL.