It ‘singes your soul.’ Carolina Reaper creator unveils new, even hotter SC pepper

The man who brought the world the famously, unbelievably hot Carolina Reaper — hottest chili pepper in the world according to Guinness Book of World Records — has been thinking up something new.

Pepper X.

Ed Currie, known as Smokin’ Ed and owner-founder of Puckerbutt Pepper Company based in Fort Mill, told television station WCNC in Charlotte, Pepper X is 3 million Scoville units, compared to Carolina Reaper’s 1.64 million units.

Those numbers are so big it’s hard to imagine what they mean, but by comparison the lowly, simple Jalapeno measures 3,000 Scoville units.

Let’s just say the Reaper is so hot a reporter for NPR affiliate WFAE ate a small piece, rolled on the floor and hallucinated, according to the Puckerbutt website. That’s how people learned about the Reaper. He shared his story on the radio in 2011.

Another oft-told story is of a man who arrived at a New York ER after eating one with what’s known as a thunderclap headache. He’s written up in a medical journal.

“Those who don’t fear the Reaper are fools,” Currie says on his website. “It is Painfully Hot, with sweet, fruity undertones and hints of cinnamon and chocolate. It can be used to spice up your sauces, salsas or in combat.”

Currie describes eating a Reaper as an “increasing tidal wave of scorching fire that grips you from head to toe.”

It’s bright red and a cultivar of the Capsicum chinense plant. It was certified by Guinness as the hottest chili pepper in the world in 2017.

In the years since its development, Currie has opened a store on Main Street in Fort Mill, selling a variety of pepper sauces (mild to flaming), mustards, jellies and chocolates. One item is a sauce called “I Dare you Stupit.”

And Pockerbutt sells seeds. Grow your own Carolina Reaper if you dare. The website says the company grows more than 100,000 plants on their farms each year.

Curries used to be a banker, now he calls himself a mad scientist. Pepper X was 10 years in the making and is also a cultivar of Capsicum chili pepper. Currie has told various publications he needed Pepper X because most chili peppers were too mild.

He was looking for more heat but also flavor.

Pepper X peppers and sauces are not on the market just yet but they were used to make the hot sauce “The Last Dab,” a collaboration between Currie and The Heatonist founder Noah Chaimberg.

On his website Chaimberg says, “More than simple mouth burn, Pepper X singes your soul.”

So who wants to try Pepper X?

Currie is trying for a new world record for Pepper X and once he gets it he told WCNC it “ain’t never getting broken.”