Simply put, when a chilli pepper is so hot that it begins to damage and impair your bodily functions, your system will literally begin rejecting and fighting it. I’m Johnny Scoville, and as you know I have issues,” says the triple-braid bearded host of Chase the Heat at the beginning of his Mad Dog 357 Plutonium extract challenge video, where he’s about to chug the 9m SHU concentrate. He’s nervous, he says – not because of the challenge, which he’s already completed twice, but because of a confession he’s about to make. At a low level, this is through things like sweating, but if overdosing on seriously hot stuff, your body will likely induce vomiting to stop a super Scoville chilli overriding your system. Elijah’s Xtreme Regret goes great with wings, in chili, and on grilled meats. I tried it as an addition to my BBQ sauce, and just a few drops added plenty of spiciness to a perviously mild sauce. I also added a few drops onto a BBQ sandwich, and the fruity heat really was a standout. I even got that touch of garlic from just those few drops. I could feel the heat traveling through my digestive tract, but it didn’t get too far. Like severe menstrual cramps, waves of nausea sent me to lay on the bathroom floor.

Eventually, the stomach revolts, tightening even more into a stubborn cramp, seemingly begging for it all to stop. So you guys can do this,” he says. “If you guys have something that you’re trying to conquer, you can do it. If I can, you can.” A few minutes later, he puts on a protective glove and unscrews the cap of the extract, wincing at the aroma before holding it up to the camera.So, telling you about the taste is a bit different as well, since obviously, I’m not trying the sauce on its own. I’ve got a tiny bit mixed into a bbq sauce (a sauce generally known for big, bold flavors). But I can tell you that even that little bit mixed in, it did alter the flavor of said bbq sauce. I could taste the difference even on the first bite. There was just a touch more vinegar flavor there. And the taste of the peppers came through as well. Of course, none of it was a huge difference. I still -mostly- tasted my bbq sauce, but even that tiny pinch made its way through. It’s again best to look at the ingredients list: are there added herbs, tomatoes and spices? Or is it almost exclusively pepper extract and vinegar? Johnson admits that even he is intimidated by the extracts. And yet YouTube is filled with videos by amateurs and experienced chilli eaters all willing to feed an audience’s sado-masochistic taste for pain.

Otherwise, you’ll be in for a seriously stressful few hours as your body fights off an overdose of headache-inducing, tongue-numbing, painful spice. I was careful to not touch my eyes, where capsicum residue on your fingers can wreak all kinds of havoc. Tears streamed down my sweaty face, and my stomach clenched up in anticipation. At a mere 135,600 SHU, I was experiencing a fraction of what Waseem and Johnson do when they eat peppers like Carolina Reaper, which come in around 2,200,000 SHU. To properly understand how hot your chosen sauce is going to be, it’s wise to get acquainted with the Scoville chart (SHU), an official accreditation of heat for chilli peppers.Let’s face it, a life without hot sauce would be a boring and bland one, and once you’ve earned your stripes with a couple of low-Scoville charters, it’s time to start chasing the dragon and begin sampling sauces so hot they were probably crafted by Beezlebub himself. I wondered how Da Bomb’s makers, Spicin Foods, were building on its popularity. I should have guessed: Jeff Hinds, president of Spicin, says the company cranked the heat, developing even hotter versions of the wretched stuff. The first time I tested the hot sauce, it was 3 days ago on a roast beef sandwich I made myself for lunch. Being the hot sauce freak that I am, and a daring one at that, I put a healthy splash on, about a tablespoons worth. Holding the sandwich inches away from my face, I gave up all doubt and dove in, taking a crunchy bite. The sauce tasted smoky at first, then disappointing as it turned out to have the same bitter carrot flavour or as other spicier hot sauces. Whilst the taste of it was quite bad, the heat was amazing, hotter than a raw fresh ghost pepper, enough to bring me to tears and scorch my whole mouth. The blaze lasted about 10 minutes after the food was eaten, a little longer than it took me to clean up after myself.