heat Pepper Economics - Why you should stop talking about the "World's Hottest"

Spicegeist

Spicegeist

The logic goes like this: people will want the world's hottest pepper, therefore, whatever is declared the world's hottest will immediately have appeal.  I suggest that this is false, based on, amongst other things, the economic "law" of diminishing returns (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diminishing_returns).%C2 The difference between the Red Savina and the Bhut Jolokia resulted in a lot of hype around the Bhut, people liked it, it was great, new and exotic.  Now the difference between the Bhut and the rest?  Well, I argue it's not that great.  You can never recreate the excitement the Bhut generated, that happened once, and only once.  Peppers may be hotter, but they will never have the mystique of the Bhut.
 
Two points on why you should not talk about a single "world's hottest" anymore:
  1. Experienced growers don't fall for this kind of marketing.  In fact, it may actually work against you, since you may appear more interested in hype than substance, especially if you are charging more money for the "world's hottest" when it's the same cost to produce as other very similar peppers.
  2. Less knowledgeable hobby growers have experienced "world's hottest" fatigue.  Many average people still think the "ghost pepper" is the world's hottest.  Try explaining that it no longer is and they lose interest.  For example, what kind of hobby grower (growing a Douglah, Butch T, or whatever) who wants to show off that he's growing the world's hottest would ever be reproached by his even-less-knowledgeable friends and family about it?  On average, if I tell someone "I'm growing the world's hottest", the response is "wow" and then a yawn, but definitely not a nerdy pepper discussion.
The original world's hottest is in my opinion the Bhut Jolokia.  I never liked the name "ghost peppper", but that's what people remember.  Ask people on the street what the world's hottest is - they'll say the "ghost pepper".  Try explaining the story since then, no one really cares.  Well some people do care, but we don't care about one pepper being called the "world's hottest".
 
I think the term itself "Worlds hottest" is old and washed out. Just last summer I bought a habanero plant from Home Depot and the plastic name tag in the pot, in big bold letters said "Worlds Hottest". Clearly a BS marketing device. That is America. Just say anything you want, and all the sheeple will clammer over each other to acquire the new latest greatest fad thingy.

Whenever I see or hear "worlds hottest" I immediately shut it off. As I have said before, anything hotter than a Jonah 7 or a Bhut tastes like crap and is to hot to be functional anyway, IMO. I would rather add 5 habs to 1-1/2 gallons of Chilli than 1/2 of a "other" super hot. At least the flavor of the habs will come thru.
 
Scoville DeVille said:
I think the term itself "Worlds hottest" is old and washed out. Just last summer I bought a habanero plant from Home Depot and the plastic name tag in the pot, in big bold letters said "Worlds Hottest". Clearly a BS marketing device. That is America. Just say anything you want, and all the sheeple will clammer over each other to acquire the new latest greatest fad thingy.

Whenever I see or hear "worlds hottest" I immediately shut it off. As I have said before, anything hotter than a Jonah 7 or a Bhut tastes like crap and is to hot to be functional anyway, IMO. I would rather add 5 habs to 1-1/2 gallons of Chilli than 1/2 of a "other" super hot. At least the flavor of the habs will come thru.
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I couldn't agree more! How about just the "worlds tastiest pepper". Now that one might catch my interest.
 
SL3 said:
I couldn't agree more! How about just the "worlds tastiest pepper". Now that one might catch my interest.
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Unfortunately, the reaper is a very tasty pepper. It is so freakishly hot though that you only get to taste that flavor for a few seconds and then your taste buds get fried.
 
The steady pace of new, hotter varieties is a bit akin to the IT industry - moving so fast with so many different people working & tinkering with ideas that there's really not much point in attempting to point fingers at which is on top. And if you're attempting to be the one that "always" has the very hottest? Well, good luck.. and those poor plants that get left by the wayside in your fervor to stay on top. lol
 
When I talk to people in my area, most only know of the typical Habanero as being the hottest - if they even know of that (sad, huh?). So when I talk about them I open with asking if they know of the Habanero, then of the Bhut Jolokia and how it is around 3 times as hot.. Then I give them time to think and react and then I point out a few of the even hotter ones that are out there at this point.
 
When I point out I'm attempting to grow the Reaper, Moruga, etc, I don't focus on trying to sell them as the "best", or even the hottest. I point out they are -some- of the hottest and that there are folks (such as many of you fine folks here) that are developing even hotter.
 
I find Guinness World Records pretty neat - just for the curious things you can discover - but with the way the world of hot peppers is constantly growing, having them tack your name on a single variety and claiming it's the hottest really does seem to be more about the marketing potential.. Which likely explains the hesitation on the part of Guinness to name new leaders in the field, and the rigorous/repeated test results need to convince them. If they have to name a new leader several times a year, it'll just turn pointless and ridiculous (and maybe even a bit confusing to the masses).
 
(that's just my perspective) :)
 
I wonder if Guinness has a policy against GMOs??!??
 
It probably wouldn't be all that hard for some scientist to isolate the DNA that produces capciacin and then figure out how to double or triple it.
 
 
Nigel, how about doing a review of my newly engineered 7 million scovie pepper.
 
My thoughts exactly Charles! It's soooo hard to explain to the average, non chilihead, that a Bhut isn't considered the "world's hottest". THen they google something on their phone trying to prove you wrong. " Look the Moruga Scorpion is the hottest at 2.2 mil SHU". You again try to explain to them, I just end up face palming, and giving up. To me after a Bhut, its all stupidly hot. Yet I love to grow them for powders and the fun and aesthetics these strains bring forth. I LOVE superhot powder, use it almost everyday. But, the "World's Hottest" dealy thingy is getting really old!
 
I had an interesting conversation with Ed Currie about this earlier this Fall, he made a good point.  There are probably, roughly, a 1000 of us who REALLY give a damn.  Other than that the people have to be taught and most of that is done by the media.
 
"Lastly
I am crossing Irish Nags with cabbage to get the wrinkly sink and the sweet aroma"
 
I think us Irish just got insulted... ah oh well...  :beer:
 
I will always save a spot in the garden for a record or freak chile. Similar to why I buy NIKE sporting apparel even though I loathe Tiger Woods. Even though he gets a % of my money,I still want the goods! If I want the seeds,I will buy them.

I agree with Spice,no other record will ever cause the buzz that the Bhut did. Read "Saga Jolokia" or any of the old literature,they were chile folklore. I would guess that very few people here were searching for these superhots in the early 2000s,a small handful maybe. It is about money obviously,the next record I am guessing will be no higher than 2.4m or 2.5m. Most people would try to make a record insurmountable,but that wouldn't make very much sense in this case. I would like to see someone with more time and money than I,take one of these "chocolate" varieties and use all placenta,and choice parts for their testing,take out the seeds. There obviously is no standard procedure for testing for Guinness.
 
I got a cool tasty pepper out of this mess (world's hottest nonsense). My reaper seeds cost 0 dollars, and people I trade with will get them for free. I don't quite get the drama and hate. The Pakistani naga could exist. It's not absurd that there could be a naga that was isolated in Pakistan or Bangladesh when it used to be a part of Pakistan. It could also be incorrectly labeled from Ed or whoever he got it from without the intent to deceive us. It could even be a cross Ed created and called Pakistani naga.  Ed wouldn't lose anything by telling us what he crossed with, because it's near impossible to reproduce the same pepper. IMO, someone who knows Ed and cares about the credibility of the cross should ask him about the Pakistani naga and the habanero he used.
 
 
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If Ed cheated, further testing would reveal this. I suspect people will try to dethrone this champion and compare their pepper with the new champ. Me, I'll be breeding my 7 pot Jonah x pimenta da Neyde with the community and several other hybrids of mine and others without the goal of creating the hottest pepper. I'm more interested in taste and aesthetics, which is why I didn't bother growing Butch T.s last season (don't taste good to me).
 
Pop two morugas in a pot of chili.
That's hotter than one reaper in a pot of chili.
So hottest doesn't matter! Use what you like.
 
It only matters to raw pepper reviewers who eat one pepper at a time. They are the only ones that see the difference. When you cook with them, you just add more, and miraculously it's hotter!
 
So... yeah! All this fuss for the pepper reviewers.
 
Ever had a ghost pepper sauce that is mild? Yup. The amount of peppers is what matters folks!
 
I don't fall for all the hype because quite frankly I don't care about heat I look for flavor, if the heat outweighs the taste well then I find this quite worthless
I don't really care about the worlds hottest, but I don't believe in bashing people for there work if they prove themselves honest and thus legitimate
 
its true that for many the hype sells things and in many ways that's not a bad thing if your a businessman marketing is a very important thing to cultivate if you want to succeed, what I don't care for is more hype and no truth to back it up, this is pure unadulterated dishonesty
 
its better to be honest right up front then you wont get caught in a lie that could ruin your reputation, if people still don't believe you when you have done all you can to prove your an honest well then that's on them
I do agree the bhut good rightful recognition far far more than other deserved
too much hype is not a good thing either
 
thanks your friend Joe
 
some very valid points going on here.

i like food really hot - like has already been said, just add more chillies!

however, the really hot ones also tend to be the really interesting looking ones! Aesthetically speaking, i like the hottest peppers.
 
 
I don't care if its the world's hottest pepper or not, I would rather eat a pepper that had good flavor and enough heat that would meet my needs, I do grow several varieties and hybrids that could under the right conditions be the next world's hottest not grown by me as my garden and climet would not produce a world's hottest. 
Recently my grand daughter was asked by her teacher "what the Ten Hottest Peppers were" well shen named off ten very hot peppers asn the teacher was impressed that she would know what the ten hottest peppers were and asked her how she knew that and my grand daughter told her that her grand father grows them and that each one in its own right could reach the world's hottest mark if grown under the right conditions as they all share some of the same genes.
Well I don't know if they all share the same genes or not, but most or at least half are from the 7 pot clan and the other half comes from Naga Land and from the Caribean Islands. I frankly grow them as they are varieties that are unusual do to pod shape and hear levan, I haven't grown the reaper yet and may never grow it as I would rather grow and eat a better flavored and lower heat pepper, just my two cents.
 
wildseed57 said:
I don't care if its the world's hottest pepper or not, I would rather eat a pepper that had good flavor and enough heat that would meet my needs, I do grow several varieties and hybrids that could under the right conditions be the next world's hottest not grown by me as my garden and climet would not produce a world's hottest. 
Recently my grand daughter was asked by her teacher "what the Ten Hottest Peppers were" well shen named off ten very hot peppers asn the teacher was impressed that she would know what the ten hottest peppers were and asked her how she knew that and my grand daughter told her that her grand father grows them and that each one in its own right could reach the world's hottest mark if grown under the right conditions as they all share some of the same genes.
Well I don't know if they all share the same genes or not, but most or at least half are from the 7 pot clan and the other half comes from Naga Land and from the Caribean Islands. I frankly grow them as they are varieties that are unusual do to pod shape and hear levan, I haven't grown the reaper yet and may never grow it as I would rather grow and eat a better flavored and lower heat pepper, just my two cents.
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:rofl:  That's hilarious she could talk about the peppers in school, very cool :cool: .  I think the bhut is a cross between a Fatalii and a Lota Bih, I swear these little C. frutescens look just like little baby bhuts on the inside with little chambers, but that's another conversation...
 
TBH I broken many state and USA Records when I was competing, and they would mean nothing to anyone on THP and don't care to or even want to think or talk about the Records or anything I did when I was competing.  Pretty much Jealousy, lies with a topping of greed turned me so much against what I competed in that I asked that all my Records be taken off the books but the club wouldn't. LOL    So from someone that had records only thing Records are for is someone to brake them.. LOL  
 
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