I’m amazed. Not one Spice Girl or Gautemalan insanity pepper joke. SDMB is becoming downright stodgy.
“The merciless peppers of Quetzlzacatenango! Grown in the jungle primeval by the inmates of a Guatemalan insane asylum!"
<tangent>
According to my research for an undergraduate field botany class, nutmeg, when taken in large doses (4-5 tablespoons) is a hallucinogen. Its effects last for days, and can include nausea, insomina, halucinations, paranoia, delusions, and other fun side effects. But that’s propably already been covered on the SDMB 
</end tangent>
I once was at a restaurant where I managed to squirt myself in the eye with hot sauce three times in a row. :smack:Ow!:smack:Ow!:smack:Ow! Was barely back from the bathroom for a minute both times. I was ok (at least as much as a guy who could do that can be) after a day; still can’t believe myself!
Mailbag article that touches on a few of the questions asked: “Are birds immune to hot pepper, enabling them to eat vast amounts and spread the seeds?”
http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mchili.html
He mentions that capsaicin doesn’t actually burn your tongue, it stimulates the nerve endings to send signals that are interpreted by your brain as pain. So while I’m sure you could do damage with massive doses, the average meal (even one that makes the waiters in a Thai restaurant hide behind furniture as they watch you) shouldn’t cause any physical damage to your mouth, unless the food itself has been served extremely hot (temperature, not spice).
Does it cause brain damage or anything permenant?
Thank you! Great GQ answer!
You’re right, my mistake. About 3 tablespoons, I’d guess.
According to this page, dired habanero has a capsaicin concentration of 6400 ppm, or 0.64%. So it takes about 6 kilograms (14 pounds) of dired habanero to kill someone.
14 pounds is a shitload of chili. I wouldn’t want to be in the same room with my victim! Peeeeeeeee-uuuuuuuu!
A friend of mine in college worked for a company that made gourmet spice mixes. He worked in the mixing room. His sage advice to me is to never, ever take a piss after handling large amounts of cayene pepper.
Haj
FYI- For what it si worth
My husband worked at a Supermax prison facility and he used chemical agents quite frequently. As Unit Manager, he was tasked with determining applicable force. He told me he used a substance, at rare times, called “fox fire” that had 5 million SHU’s. He had one inmate he said that opened his mouth and caught the regular OC (1 million SHU’s) in his mouth, gargled it and spit it back at him (hitting the door for any of you concerned about my husband). So, I think alot of it may be about tolerance. According to him, some people are totally resistant to OC and it does nothing to them.
Sage advice. Nice punwork! Hehe.
Your flattery isn’t going to curry any favors from me!
Haj
Ok, I’ll make a dill with you…you stop peppering us with puns, and I’ll babysit anise for you some night.
Please stop. I don’t have the thyme for this right now.
Haj
You’re right, I mint to stop earlier.
C’mon guys. Stop salting my thread. Its completely peppered with puns. I’m so lost I don’t know if I’m cumin or goin’.
This is definitely one for the archives.
Well, like Scarlett O’Hara said after her house burned down, “Where has tarragon?”
Ok, I’ll be more ginger in the future.
As this thread has now appearantly fallen to shit I’d like to share my spice story.
About 30 years ago I was laying around the house thinking I’d like a little action that night. Suddenly I remembered we had a bottle of cinnamon oil or cinnamon extract (anyway it was liquid) so I slathered a generous amount on the boys . The next 30 minutes were spent sitting in the bathtub with a steady stream of cold water running on the raging brush fire. Ms Hook found the whole thing to be a hoot.
Cross Country trip to Minneapolis in the fall of 1999. We were operating out of Fargo.
After the race, we went to the Mall of America. There was a spice shop there or some such, and a member of the team got a thing of habanero hot sauce. On the way back, we’d test each other to see how much we could handle. No water in the van. Ouch.
However, the kicker is that the fucker put some on my lower lip when I fell asleep.
I never considered him my friend, anyway.