Picked this one up at the Weekend of Fire from the Blair’s booth that Joe and Linda were manning for Blair. This was the Jolokia product that Blair hinted to me in our interview at the 2006 Fiery Foods show and I had been eagerly anticipating its release. Now, I generally love a lot of Blair’s products. His Jersey Death gave me one of the best endorphin rushes in my life. The Habanero Death Rain potato chips are damn near the most addicting product I’ve ever eaten, and his Q Heat line is fantastic (especially the Wasabi Green tea……REAL Wasabi Rhizome!!! WOW). But this one I feel has really let me down.

Blair’s Pure Death Sauce Ingredients: Habanero chili pods, Naga Jolokia, Vinegar, Hawaiin Red Salt.

The design of the label is great, it follows his usual style (well, at least until the new bottle and label designs came out a month or so ago) and the colors are a perfect match for the sauce contained within. But looking at the ingredients list was the first sign of trouble. This does not read like a Blair’s sauce. There’s no fancy or interesting ingredients (like potato or pumpkin seeds), no “spices…” (which after a few emails to Blair I still haven’t gotten a response as to why it has the “…” after spices on his labels), and the Jolokia is the second ingredient. Why would you have more Habaneros than Jolokias in a sauce that features Jolokia so prominently in the marketing scheme?

Now let’s examine the appearance and taste.. it pours out to a slightly viscous, well pureed, semi seed filled liquid with a beautiful off orange color. There’s a mixture of tastes that instantly hit your palate and then mellow out to a salty taste. The really salty taste of the Hawaiian Red Alaea Sea Salt (which is misspelled on the ingredients list) is the first to hit and the main lingering taste and boy does it linger. I really dislike salt and this is definitely overly salty BUT it probably would pair well with sea food (lobster in particular) because of this fact.

Up next is the oh so familiar taste of the Jolokia then the slightly fruity/citrusy taste of the Habaneros. The tastes really are instant hitting and very fleeting due to the dominated of the salt. I don’t know why, but I also taste carrot in here (a common filler for sauces) but it’s not listed… This is no where near complex, just straight forward and simple. I hate to say this, but I almost feel like I’m eating one of Marie Sharp’s sauces.

The heat is very disappointing considering the ingredients and creator. Blair has this reputation for blowing your tongue out of the back of your head and for a sauce that has both Habs AND Jolokias, I should at least start to build up a sweat. But this left me high and dry, a familiar Jolokia tongue grab and a slight back of the throat burn and that’s it. Really? That’s it?!?! Aww…

Taste: 5, Heat: 6