Dried Carolina Reaper Pepper Whole Pods by Magic Plant (1/4 oz.)

For those of you who don’t know and don’t bother to do the research, let me tell you how damn hot these peppers truly are;This story begins with my roommate and I constantly battling to eat the hottest of peppers and sauces we can find. We always challenge each other to destroy our mouths and our butts for the sake of bragging rights. On this particular occasion though, we met our match.After a short delivery of these deadly little devils we found a small package on our doorstep. I knew exactly what this package was and how excited we were for it to arrive. Despite our excitement there was indeed a lack of urgency to actually eat these little guys. We put it off for a week at least. Some excuses we told ourselves were that we needed a small audience to witness this astonishing feat of bravery. Sometime later we finally dug up the courage to put ourselves to the truest test of manhood. My roommate, our friend John and I decided to eat one pepper whole each and chew it for at least 45 seconds. We started the timer and the race began.About 3 seconds after I swallowed my pepper I started to realize why this was the world’s hottest pepper. It was as if someone poured fresh molten lava on the back of my throat. I attempted to walk across the room to gain some clarity and take my mind off this insufferable pain that was becoming my mouth and digestive tract. I lost track of my roommate as he ran to his room and start to thrash on his guitar to distract himself from his own torture. John completely disappeared out the front door and wasn’t seen again until later that evening. I did hear he was bright red as he fumbled with the knob on his way out stumbling into the yard.I started to cough and I knew at that point it was over. I started to see colorful sprites in my eyes and accepted my fate. My eyes watered and my nose began to run. This was it, this is how it would end. I would be found on the living room floor dead from eating a stupid pepper trying to prove a point. At this point I franticly began to fight the urge to vomit this fire from my belly. I remembered that we had new ice cream in the fridge and I devoured what was left of the rocky road before tearing into a tub of butter. Half a tub later, the pain still seemed to be building and I couldn’t seem to shake it. I drank half a gallon of milk before blowing chunks into the kitchen sink. Slowly but surely the throbbing and agonizing fire in my mouth started to subside with the help of some banana pudding I found.After surviving this experience I must say that I am not at all regretful. I’m actually quite pleased with what transpired. I have now evolved my taste buds into something new and dangerous. After trying this pepper I can now handle ANY hot sauce I come across and even defeat the ridiculously hot Buffalo Wild Wings challenge. For those of you brave enough to endure this venture I suggest chewing for at least 60 seconds before swallowing and be sure to have a buddy on standby in the event you pass out from pain or humiliation that this pepper will leave you in. hahahaCheers!

This bag of peppers arrived, and looked somewhat unimpressive to be honest. I thought "that is all there is"?I could smell the peppers a bit through the sealed bag. First thought was how interesting they smelled, with a sweet but oily goodness that promised spicy delights. Second thought was that they must be pretty strong for the smell to be seeping through a sealed bag.The day came for a batch of my chili, loved and feared by all who know for its kick. Okay, only loved by a handful, and deeply feared by everyone else either brave or dumb enough to have tried it. Though the peppers were pretty much dried, they had a bit of almost greasy rubbery-ness to them. However, my little slap chop style dicer was able to dice them up with no problem. I dumped the entire contents of the bag along with about 2 pounds of meat in to the chili pot. Before running to the store to get a few more ingredients, I left the meat and Reapers stewing on super low heat. I decided to taste a small reaper remnant left on the cutting board. Mmm, tasty. Kind of sweet, but, well, greasy if that makes any sense. out the door to the store.Quick word of warning: Based on prior experience, I knew to put on disposable gloves, two pair, before handling these peppers. If you go to the bathroom once in your life after handling hot peppers without gloves, well, that will be the only time. You will be really really really sure to make sure that *never* happens again.On the way to the store, my mouth was getting the expected burn, but on a scale I wasn't prepared for. However, it was welcome, and strangely enjoyable. Walking in to the store my stomach had the sensation of what it must be like to swallow a hungry rat live and let it eat its way back out. This lasted maybe 10 minutes.Fast forward a couple hours, the chili is done! Poured a bowl and dove right in. The heat was immediate and quite gratifying. No sissy mode chili today! And very very tasty as well. What I didn't realize is that the Reapers are somewhat like Ghost Peppers in that they build up over time, maxing out a few minutes after eating. While slightly hallucinating and trying to compose a message/warning/cry for help on Facebook to my friends, I realized that I never knew before that one's eyelids can actually sweat. Its true, they can. They did. The chili was full on DEFCON ONE level hot. The second and third bowl were even more intense.I only gave this 5 stars because it wouldn't let me give me more. If you are a 'chili head', this stuff is legit! Its not just hot, but has a very interesting taste. Definitely different than Ghost Peppers. Its kind of, heavier, darker, oily.Incredibly good peppers!Update: Another bag, another batch of chili. Much hotter than the first. Caution recommended, remember you can always add more but can't take it back out once its in.