A scale developed by Wilbur Scoville in 1912, to measure the heat level in chillies. It was first a subjective taste test, but since, it has been refined by the use of HPLC (High Performance Liquid Chromatography), the unit is named in honour of its inventor.

The test officially measures the pungency level of a given pepper. There are other methods, but the Scoville Scale remains the most widely used and respected. The greater the number of Scoville units, the hotter the pepper. Of course, being a natural product, the heat can vary from pepper to pepper, so this scale is just a guide.

Pepper Spray Concentration

Confusion abounds concerning the efficacy of various pepper (oleoresin capsicum "OC") sprays because of the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission's labeling system. Often a consumer of civilian OC defense spray will see "5%" or "10%" pepper spray claims on a canister. Unfortunately, these percentages do not correlate with efficacy because they only measure the percentage of OC relative to the other ingredients in the canister. These other ingredients include the carrier for the OC, a propellant, and often marking dyes or other chemicals.

An over-the-counter "10%" spray contains 10% Oleoresin Capsicum relative to the rest of the ingredients. What the OC concentration does not measure is the concentration of the active ingredients in the OC formulation.

OC concentration therefore, only represents the amount of OC (oily resin) in a canister and not its strength. The heat or strength of OC is measured by the quantity of an active ingredient called Capsaicin*. Therefore, the higher the Capsaicin amount, the hotter the OC.

* Capsaicin is the ingredient within the OC that causes inflammation of mucous membranes. The reason some peppers are hotter than others is due to the amount of capsaicin. Capsaicin percentage changes depending on the pepper species, geographical origin and climatic growth conditions as well as upon oleoresin extraction and formulation processes.

For example an OC spray with 5.5% concentration can be 5 times hotter than one with 10% OC concentration. Always check your pepper spray description for a measurement of how many Scoville Heat Units (SHU) are in the pepper spray.This will tell you how HOT the spray actually is. Most Pepper Spray products here at MyKnifeStore.net have 2 million Scoville Heat Units. If this is not in the description, the spray may be of lesser quality.

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