As I see it, heat and flavor are two theoretically independent variables. Flavor is detected by your taste buds and it occurs whether you're burning up or not. "Heat," in terms of chiles, is just pain you're feeling in your nerve endings due to how they interpret the presence of capsaicinoids. If there's sufficient cap present, you'll feel the burn, regardless of how tasty (or nasty) the pepper's flavor is.
Now, that's all theoretical, bc like many ppl, I find a brutal SuperHot burn to be distracting; I can still taste the flavor of the thing when my mouth is ablaze, but I cannot savour it bc the sensation of pain eclipses my ability to analyze the pod's flavor. However, with the delayed rush of the peak burn, one can get a sense for a chile's flavor before the heat kicks in. That's half the reason why I'm into Supers; I think they taste so good before the burn begins, plus I tend to belch up some incredible flavors during the aftermath.
The other way that heat and flavor do intersect despite the theoretical separation of taste and pain sensation is that Capsaicin is bitter, so most heavy hittin peppers will have a lot of bitterness in the aftertaste.
I'm not big into the whole "world's hottest" thing, for a million reasons, but perhaps the most important factor is that I'm focusing on my own life experiences now. Just as my wife is the most beautiful woman in MY world, the hottest pepper I've ever eaten is still the Red Brainstrain. One way that my marriage and my garden differs is that I'm not always looking for a hotter woman than my wife, but I am absolutely looking for a hotter chile than the venerable Brainstrain. I guess the only real contender I'm growing this year is the 7 Douglah, as the Primo has already failed this year, much like how it did in 2018...
Regardless of that, i do think that the Brain tastes fantastic four the brief moment you can taste it without the distraction of the searing heat. So fruity, kinda sweet, treating like an elemental force-- but then the heat kicks in and destroys you, plus by then you're getting a smack of that high-cap bitterness on your pallet..
