The World's Hottest Pepper Is Actually Lethal

To the die-hard chile fanatics casually chomping down on habaneros and drizzling Carolina Reaper sauce on your tacos, you have a new fiery monarch to bow down to. Except this time, we really wouldn't recommend you try to eat it.

According to the Daily Post, the Dragon's Breath chile, now the world's spiciest pepper, clocks in at a hellish 2.48 million on the Scoville scale, dwarfing its nearest competitor, the Carolina Reaper, which comes in at 2.2 million. (For reference, military-grade pepper spray comes in at a casual 2 million.) The devilish pepper, cultivated by grower Mike Smith in conjunction with Nottingham University, is 22 times as hot as the now-innocent-seeming habanero, and nearly 300 times spicier than the everyday jalapeño.

The Dragon's Breath actually hasn't been consumed by a human yet, out of fear that the lethal amount of capsaicin could singe one's airways, causing them to close up and cause anaphylactic shock. So, yes, ingesting one of these tiny rosebuds can actually kill you, though the pepper wasn't created to be consumed in the first place (no matter how many dumb ideas are swirling in your head right now). According to Smith, the Dragon's Breath was developed to treat people who are allergic to anesthetics, as the pepper is literally so hot it can be used to numb the skin.