Welcome to part three on my coverage of the 2rd Annual Weekend of Fire. Last we left our hero he was heading back to the hotel for some much needed rest. I arrived at 10:45PM and slept until midnight. That’s when my roommate and everyone favorite sauce collector MSK (Mississippi Sauce King) walked in and told me he’s been known to snore.

It wasn’t really his snoring that kept me up most of the night, nor was it his talking in his sleep (more on that later). It was the small bits of CaJohn’s Jolokia Sausage I had consumed earlier that did it. First off, I had forgotten that I was allergic to Nitrates which were in the sausage so the ax splitting headache was the first problem. Also, the stuff’s so potent I felt every single twist and turn it made in my intestines (a problem most people complained about that had a whole sausage). Mark from CaJohn’s told me they call that “Jolokia Hell”.

After getting a few hours of sleep I woke up early and sat listening to the loud sounds of someone cutting down a tree…oh wait, that was MSK sleeping. All of a sudden MSK spoke out loud, “How much for that bottle of sauce?”. I asked him, “What bottle?” and with that he woke up! He was talking in his sleep! Absolute hilarity! With that it was time to shower up and head back to the convention.

I was greeted by the moans of vendors that partied too hard the night before and they all were moving as slow as Zombies in a Romero film while setting up. But they all perked up once the customers were allowed in. Joe and Linda were relieved of the Blair’s booth duties and I followed Joe over to Defcon’s Booth.

The hungry masses.

Blacklights still rule!

Turns out Joe had a hankering for a bad burn so he opted to have a gracious sample of the new Defcon ZERO. Needless to say, he thought it was hot, especially because he got some on his lip….ouch.

The straw of Defcon!

It seems this was the “Year of CaJohn” as I saw so many products dedicated to the man. But you know what, I couldn’t have thought of a better tribute to one of our industry greats than those pictured below.

The Godfather (by Sauce Cartel) and CaJohn (by Dave’s Gourmet)

And while we are talking about the man himself, CaJohn was showing off his team up with Engine House 13. They collaborated on some sauce labels and in creation of the super groovy, blacklight sensitive poster for the Weekend of Fire!

The CaJohn/Engine House 13 labels.

I’d give this poster a glowing review if I had one.

Over at the Blogger booth, Buddah (the blogger, not the deity) had lost his voice from screaming out sales pitches all day (“Two dollars! Come one people, two dollars!”). But he was still hollering for people to buy the sauces at the booth (proceeds went to charity). I got to have a free sauce on the conditions that I yelled out the sauces name at the top of my lungs. The sauce was called “I Am Sofa King Stew Ped” (read it out load and really fast…you should get the joke). Not being one to turn down a free sauce and having no shame, I happily did it.

Yep, no shame.

There was a lot of fun that went on in that booth. Many a shots of that “distilled water” were had and many labels were signed for charity. Also, there was a cool handicapped toilet (Blane was probably the one responsible for bringing that one) and a plunger back there.

Passow doing his best to remain sober and slowly failing that effort.

After getting everyone to sign the plunger, someone stuck it to MSK’s head. He posed for some pictures and then tried to get it off…..it really was stuck on there good.

MSK.

So back onto the floor I went, but first a pint and lunch needed to be had. I ended up going with Tracy Campbell, owner of the Taste The Fear Blog, at BJ’s Brewery. After returning, I went searching for some interesting sauces.

I found everything at Flaming Joe’s booth to be extremely tasty. I also received a bottle of his Habanero Marmalade for review.

Flaming Joe Himself.

And speaking of searching for interesting sauces, this one definitely fit that description. I was over at Sauce Cartel’s booth when the psychedelic bottles and lava lamps caught my attention. Like a moth to the flame, this hippy, with eyes wide, was drawn to the mysterious bottles. Titled “Experience” this is the first sauce out there to feature the herbal medicine and legal intoxicant Kava Root. I just had to have that little treasure before our government decides to make yet another fun thing illegal. I really am looking forward to trying this and doing a review. First I have to set aside a whole day because the effects last for a good amount of time.

Ohhh! Pritty!

Things started to wind down and people started to shuffle out of the hall. At around 6PM, all the customers were gone and the show was over. It was a wild ride while it lasted and was definitely worth the drive. BUT! Have no fear! The story does not end here for the next day CaJohn had the open house at his factory in Columbus. So be sure to stay tuned from my next installment of Passow’s Weekend of Fire!