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Indian Military Hopes to Weaponize the Searing "Ghost Pepper"
coondoggie writes "The military in India is looking to weaponize the world's hottest chili, the bhut jolokia or 'ghost pepper,' according to a number of news outlets. The Bhut Jolokia chili pepper from Assam, India is no ordinary pepper. In tests first conducted by the New Mexico State University in 2008 and subsequently confirmed by Guinness World records and others, the Bhut Jolokia reached over one million Scoville heat units, while the next hottest, the Red Savina Habenero, clocks in at a mere 577,000. Scoville units are a universally accepted measure of chili hotness."
www.youtube.com/watch?v=3kO7MlHgJLA
Hopefully that's the right link.
There's a burger in TX that uses this pepper called the Four Horsemen Burger. As of the taping of this episode of Man Vs Food, only three people had managed to finish one in 25 minutes, with an additional 5 minutes of waiting without liquids. The host of the show became number 4, though it looked like he wasn't going to get past even the first bite.
Isn't that illegal (internationally) if a weapon causes this much pain and suffering?
Fifty watts per channel, baby cakes.
Eating raw Jolokia is a source of some mildly entertaining videos.
Lurking at the bottom of the gravity well, getting old
That might work for preventing the spread, but the way that capsascin(sp) works is by activating all the receptors on the nerve. That's where the "heat" comes from, sensory overload.
"There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death." Proverbs 16:25 (NKJV)
If it gets up to a million scoville units, It's much hotter than most pepper spray. Pepper Spray is around 100,000. Mace is around 300,000.
Back when I was working in New Mexico, there was a fair in Taos. One of the guys there was selling Dave's hot sauces, including their new ghost pepper variety. I bought the "temporary insanity" (57,000 scoville units according to this), and it's too hot for me except small doses. About a year later, the bottle is still mostly full.
My roommate, who has a much higher threshold for spicy food than anyone I've ever met, brought the newly unveiled ghost pepper brand (2.5 million scoville units, according to the bottle, if memory serves).
The dealer gave us a taste of it (a tiny drop on the tip of a toothpick) and my god did it burn.
The guy who sold it to us told us a few interesting things about it: (1) It instantly blisters skin on contact (2) it's very expensive to buy over the internet because it has to be shipped as a hazardous materiel. (3) Not only is it good for eating, but it works great as a caustic agent for degreasing driveways, engines, etc.
In short - ghost peppers are not something you play around with.
To make laws that man cannot, and will not obey, serves to bring all law into contempt.
--E.C. Stanton
Actually, the Scoville scale measures the actual amount of capsaicin in a pepper. The test that Scoville himself invented was subjective. But because of the work he did on it, they named the quantitative units after him.
I will shred my adversaries. Pull their eyes out just enough to turn them towards their mewing, mutilated faces. Illyria
So it should be safe to use on your food. http://www.madeinnewmexico.com/647293003150.html
I can't wait to taste this in a batch of chili.
Sort of a slightly sweet/smoky mix, not really bitter at all. Very mild sourness, then spice. Aftertaste lasts for a while.
Not a sentence!
The problem with Scoville units(and the reason they're NOT a universally accepted measure of chili hotness) is that it's a subjective measure. It's based on taste testing. American Spice Trade Association pungency units are a better measure, as they're determined using high performance liquid chromatography.
It's sad when choosing an installation directory on your own qualifies you as an "advanced user."
It's not actually caustic. Capsicum just lowers your threshold of heat, so the nerves feel like they are in a hot area. Thus, it "burns" you. Blistering is a reaction to this. If you can use it as a caustic agent it probably has a lot of vinegar added.
Not a sentence!
Modern expressions of pungency in terms of Scoville units set pure capsaicin at either 15,000,000 or 16,000,000, and use HPLC to establish concentration of same (and related compounds). A Scoville rating is then set based on the concentration(s) measured.
So, knowing the reference standard, the measurements are actually quite objective.
Nobody, as far as I know, uses taste testers anymore.
In Liberty, Rene
(1) It instantly blisters skin on contact
(3) Not only is it good for eating...
I'm having a hard time reconciling the first clause of fact #3 with fact #1.
That's because "Fact" 1 isn't.
I've been handling all sorts of hot peppers for many years, and the particularly hot ones are very capable of producing a burning sensation on the skin just like in your mouth. And Rubbing your eyes inadvertently will ruin your evening, there is no doubt. But blistering? I sup[pose it could happen if you had an allergic reaction, but that's not even remotely going to be a common thing.
It's been my experience that dealers and vendors are really in to hyping the dangers of the sauces that are typically named "Loco", Death" and "Devil" based scary named variations.. And well they should, it's really good for business, and selling product is what they do.
A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort.
The guy who sold it to us told us a few interesting things about it: (1) It instantly blisters skin on contact (2) it's very expensive to buy over the internet because it has to be shipped as a hazardous materiel. (3) Not only is it good for eating, but it works great as a caustic agent for degreasing driveways, engines, etc.
the guy who sold it was ragingly full of shit.
I have let it sit on my skin for 20 minutes to prove it's a fake claim... Won $100.00 in the office after that and eating a taco with it on it. (they dont understand that sour cream really kills it's burn)
It's not acid, it dont burn the skin and is worthless for degreasing driveways.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
Mustard gas only smells like mustard. It's actually a sulfur compound.
(which I had to sign a waiver to purchase)
That's just for marketing purposes, not to satisfy any legal requirement.
Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law
If used in war, it is actually a war crime, since it's a chemical weapon banned under the chemical weapon convention.
Is it? I'm reading the Chemical Weapons Convention right now, and I don't see any capsaicin-based compounds listed in Schedule I, II, or III.
There are Chemical Weapons, and then there are chemicals used as weapons, and these two things are not synonymous with each other.
They should be using Resiniferatoxin, it's significantly more potent than capsaicin. Of course, that isn't found in peppers...
The only down-side I see is it actually doesn't cause any physical damage except to pain receptors. so anybody who has been hit with RTX poison gas recovers and comes back the next day feeling absolutely no pain. If you use it on someone, you'd better kill them or you've just created a super soldier!
Security is mostly a superstition... Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. - Helen Keller
That's contrary to what I know: Capsaicin binds to the TRPV1 receptor, which has a primary function of activating due to heat (>43C according to Wikipedia). The same receptor is present on some (but not all) pain nerves. The "second pepper isn't as hot" desensitization effect is due not to damage but to depletion of calcium used to transmit the signals from the affected nerves. You haven't killed anything off, just used up the fuel they use to signal the brain.
It's also not a permanent pain reliever, it is temporary. It can last longer than other methods though. AFAICT it can last for a few weeks.
Not a sentence!