[Lee Stewart]

The "weapons-grade" Dragon's Breath chili pepper is so hot it's downright deadly. If you ate one, it could potentially cause a type of anaphylactic shock, burning the airways and closing them up. "I've tried it on the tip of my tongue and it just burned and burned," said Mike Smith, the hobby grower who invented the Dragon's Breath along with scientists from Nottingham University. So why make such an impractical pepper? It turns out, the chili was developed to be used in medical treatment as an anesthetic that can numb the skin.