Oh Yea! Jerk is the way to go. Our personal favoite is called Walkers Wood. It's made in Jamaica and was oiginally turned on to us by a Jamaican friend of our when we lived in South Florida. Hands down it is the best out there. My wife and I put the stuff on so heavily that you can't even see the meat underneath.
Personally, I'm addicted to hot peppers. I've been growing all kinds of them for over ten years. I grow a Bahamian pepper that the locals call the "finga peppa" It's a little thin skinned bright orange pepper that packs a nice little punch which fades away within minutes. The plants live about five years or more if you prune them like a rose in the winter.
Jalapeno's are the old standby. Interestingly enough, as you've noted, you never know what you're going to get, heat wise. But it's not the individual pepper itself, but rather the plant. I have seven or eight Jalapeno plants right now and most of them are fairly mild, by my taste (although they are not complete duds, thank god). One, however, produces the mouth watering, eye watering, sweat inducing, gut destoying bombs you speak of. I love it. I actually started that one last year and loved it so much that I carried it over into this year's growing season. Typically, I grab two peppers, cut them into slices, and put them on my lunch sandwiches. Hmmm.
I'm also growing a Potugese pepper this year which tastes similar to a jalapeno but looks more like a big Cayenne. It's only mildly hot. Another one I'm growing is a Thai pepper. Fairly hot little bugger, also in it's second year.
A few of years ago I decided to grow a specific type of Habanero pepper called the Red Savina, which is trademarked. The owners of the trademark claim that their Red Savina Habanero is the world's hottest pepper according to the Guinness Book of records. Good god, these peppers were insane!! I swear that if someone actually tried to eat one of these whole, it would stop their heart. I'm a pepper guy and normally am not bothered by hot peppers but these things were like chemical weapon torture devices. Needless to say, I do not grow these any more because I simply have no idea how I'd actually be able to eat one. They do taste good though, just before your mouth goes numb.
