From the Columbus Dispatch:
Beating them at their game

When he first entered the Cajun Hot Sauce Festival in Louisiana several years ago, John Hard — a Columbus maker of hot sauces — wasn’t feeling any Southern hospitality.

“They didn’t even think we grew peppers up here,” he recalled.

Then a funny thing happened: The owner of CaJohns won first place in three of the five categories — and a Buckeye was named grand champion in Cajun country.

“Nobody could believe (that) this guy they were making fun of (won),” said Hard, who sells his sauces at the North Market and online (www.cajohns.com).

Two years later, in 2006, he took three more first-place prizes — and again became the grand champion.

“We went down there and kind of smoked ‘em twice,” he mused.

The OSU fan hopes that his team will do the same.

His advice for bayou beatings: “Just believe in yourself — and stay with your game plan.”

We have reconstituted some of our dried Jolokia pods and created a Limited Edition of Jolokia Select Puree. With 80% chile and 20% vinegar, this is truly Liquid Fire! The cost for a 5 fluid ounce bottle is $40.00. It is not available in our Jolokia Store on our site yet, so you have to call to order, or stop by either of our retail locations.

Toll Free: 888-703-FIRE

Many of you have read about our “Line of 10″ made with the Jolokia chile. Well it is now available at our website. Sauce 10 in it’s two sizes, Salsa 10, Wing 10, BBQ 10, Mustard 10, Rub 10, Spice 10, NagaSaurus and NagaSoreAss, Jolokia powder and whole dried pods as well. This I belive is the first time a whole line of Jolokia products is available to the public in one spot.
Some of you have tasted the products when we rolled them out at Jungle Jim’s Weekend of Fire, or at ZestFest 07 in Ft. Worth. Now they are ready for retail distribution. We still don’t have enough of the Jolokia to release them for wholesale distribution yet, but we are working to obtain it in sufficient quantity to do so soon. I think you will find this to be a fantastic flavorful line with a wealth of heat. I can promise though, that with the amount we have been able to obtain, we have increased the amount of Jolokia in all of the products. I guess you could say we’ve “turned up the heat”.

We entered three of the products in the Fiery Foods Challenge and came away with two Golden Chiles and a Third Place. Many of the judges who attended the show stopped by the booth to comment on the flavor and searing heat they experienced (after the judging is over, they can inquire as to what certain items are by writing down the number of the sample). Nick Lindauer, from the Hot Sauce Blog, commented that the Wing Sauce 10 was the only thing that made him reach for “relief from the Heat”.

I hope you enjoy these products. By the way, there is a special offer as well!

Check ou CaJohn’s Flavor & Fire Blog - it’s brand spanking new and sure to be a wealth of information.

Flavor and Fire is sponsored by CaJohns Fiery Foods Company. It’s intent is to be a site where we can keep our patrons up to date on the latest news involving CaJohns products and events. We will be posting product announcements, collectable information, event schedules and post-event reports. We will share recipes (both fiery & tasty), highlight some of our favorite friends, plus provide a few insights into what we’re all about. I hope you enjoy this opportunity to get to us a little better and share some of your thoughts and experiences with us. We will be adding a picture page and a video page in the near future. Please come back and visit us often!

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CaJohn’s Scorch Hot Sauce - The hottest all natural pepper sauce ever produced! Nick Panico, Reviewer, www.hotsauceblog.com. Just one of the many accolades given this sauce by the Chilehead Community. Produced with three of the world’s hottest chiles, it’s no wonder this sauce is pushing the limit on what can be acheived without the use of capsicum extract. Enjoy the burn! Mamma told you not to play with fire, but you’ll be fine once the fire subsides…

Well, since Defcon John brought up “Being one with the Scorch”, I figured I should unveil what we have been working on. Here is the label art. Scorch Hot Sauce. It is the precursor of Sauce 10. Yes the No Naga version in all it’s splendor. Said by many to out-hot the Sauce 10.

Available in about two weeks. There have been some updates on the Nut panel and the verbiage on the left. But this is essentially what it will look like.

Attention all who are planning to attend Jungle Jim’s Weekend of Fire!

I will be holding an Open House at my manufacturing facility in Columbus, Ohio from 9:00 AM to 5 PM the Monday following the event. The details are not set in stone at this time, but I wanted to give all of you who are planning to attend the event a heads up so you could add a day to your trip if interested. We are located on the Northeast side of Columbus, about 1 hour 45 minutes from Jungle Jim’s. We will be providing food and beverages for lunch and snacks as well as giving you the opportunity to see where we make the CaJohns products.

All are invited! If by some chance you are not going to the Weekend of Fire, but are in the area, stop on by and visit. We would love to see you! As more details become available, I’ll send an update. If you think you will be able to attend, please send me an email or call and let us know. This RSVP isn’t necessary, but we’d like to get an idea of how many will be making it. See you at JJ’s!

CaJohn

After a long bout of problems with this release, we will be shipping the Caveat Emptor II bottles this week. The long production time has been an embarrassment for me, however it was mostly out of my control.
I won’t bore everyone with the details of the tribulations encountered, but will be shipping a free bottle of Sauce 10 with the units that have been on order and paid for long ago. For those who have reserved one, but have not paid, please contact us to make payment arrangements.

There are 2 different flasks in the series. All are round, but there are only 10 flasks that look exactly like the prototype pictured before the Fiery Foods Show. They have an integrated flat spot on the bottom that allows the flask to stand on it’s own. The others are completely round. I have no explanation for this other than that’s what we received in our shipment. They are spread throughout the 100 numbers in a complete random fashion,. I left the dispersal up to the engraver.

They all will be shipped with a display easel that was the brainchild of Cheffy. He called the day we got the units in and offered a great solution, thanks Craig!

The Caveats will come with a mini Light You Up bottle in one of four colors as did the first series. There are 48 of each color, and are signed and numbered. They will be random in their delivery as well.The Caveat II series did not sell out, and those who would like to purchase one of those remaining may contact us to order. Thanks for your patience!

CaJohn

** Bumped: check out the new photos **

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We are going to be selling the Caveat Emptor II ($100.00 includes shipping, we will be able to ship late March). I have yet to get the proto from the engraver, but will publish pics when I do. You can download the PDF of the design here. I am offering matching numbers to all that have the Caveat Emptor 1 that request them. They can email me with their pre-order. After the Fiery Foods show has started, they are first come first served, but I will try to get them the number they want. We do have a list of many of the numbers.

We will be debuting our 10th anniversary sauce, Sauce 10 that contains Naga Jolokia, Red Savina, Fatalii and Orange habs. It is the hottest natural pepper sauce I have ever made. We will be selling a commerative 375 ml bottle that will be signed and numbered for $20.00. There are 600 bottlse in the run. It will also be available in a 5 oz. size for the $10.00 retail price ($5.00 wholesale).

I will have a selection of discontinued bottles from the past. Red Light, Green Light, Senor G’s (Several of all 3), The Sturgis set of 4 and a few Rick’s Mustang Sauce that we uncovered. Not sure on the pricing yet.

We’ll have a few of the Red Hot Saucer bottles, as well as matching low number sets of The Legend from the 4 dated years, which will include a 2002 unnumbered bottle of the round design (normal woozy). This is the last year for The Legend as the Jolokia has been certified by testing.

I’ll have a couple of other “special” bottles like the North Market Fiery Food Show that’s posted on thehotzoneonline and a tribute bottle to one of the Fire Mountain Krewe $10.00 each. Both will all proceeds benefiting charities.

And I almost forgot, another in the line of ABQ special label Black Mamba sauces. Muy Macho!

And a couple of more surprises!

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Something to remember when flying: Always ship the gernade shaped hot sauces home!

CaJohn,
I’m sure that you probably don’t remember me but I met you at the Zest Fest last weekend in Ft. Worth. My wife and I went down there, from New Hampshire, just to go to the fest. I stopped at your booth and had a taste / got bitten, by Black Mamba. WOW ! I bought several of your sauces while there: Black Mamba, The Legend #63 / 1500, Caveat emptor #32 / 100 that came with a bottle of Light you up Fatalii, and others. I actually got to meet you and shook your hand.

Now for my story. On Monday 9/11, we headed to DFW airport for our flight home. After checking our baggage and going thru all the security we headed towards the gate area. We had arrived quite early, about 3 hours, so we headed to a bar for a few beers. During our wait we noticed that our flight was delayed 40 minutes. About 45 minutes before departure we headed to the gate area. 20 minutes before departure our name was called to go to the gate counter. The agent told us that the TSA, Transportation Security Administration / U.S. Dept. of Homeland Security, had been trying to get ahold of us since we checked in hours ago. We figured we didn’t hear any pages because we were in the bar. She told us we had to go back thru security to the TSA area. We asked what the problem was and if we were going to be able to make our flight and she said she didn’t know. We couldn’t imagine why we were being asked to meet with security.

Once we got there, we met with a Security Officer who told us that they indeed had been trying to get ahold of us because there was a problem with an item in one of our bags. He was quite upset with us and told us because of this item, Homeland Security and the Dallas Police Dept. were involved and the entire American Airlines baggage check-in system had to be shut down while my bag was seached. Resulting in a back-up of baggage check in and the delay of our flight. The Security Agent asked me if I knew what the item was and by this time I realized what it was. If you haven’t guessed it by now one of the other sauces that I had purchased was the MK2 Grenade in the wooden crate. I was so embarressed by the problem I had caused.

My wife and I never even thought about it. Imagine, checking a bag for an airline flight with an item in it, in the shape of a grenade, on 9/11. Well, needless to say they confiscated the sauce and by now we had missed our flight. We ended up getting home 3 hours late. I guess we can’t complain, we’re lucky we didn’t get into anything more serious that would have involved fines or legal matters. The reason that I’m telling you all this, besides the fact that your sauce has now just probably earned another award, is that when I purchased the sauce, you signed the crate for me. It was quite the deal at the show too. I got the sauce and the crate for $25.00.

Anyways, I was hoping that there was a way I could get another one signed by you to replace my confiscated one. I’ll gladly pay the price for it. It would just mean alot to me if I could get you to sign another one for me as a rememberance of the Zest Fest and the flight incident. Something that I could actually show my friends as I tell them about the incident. Let me tell you, it was quite the day. One my wife and I will never forget. I was reluctant in contacting you about this, but my wife said I should try because you might enjoy the story and we would really like to replace the sauce. I hope to hear from you soon.

Sincerely
John and Ann Asselin

Monday morning at 12:24 AM in the parking lot of the Holiday Inn Select, Dude’s window was smashed and his truck/trailer was stolen. Inside of the trailer was what was left after the show from both Old Pueblo Distributing’s and CaJohns booths. The truck/trailer was recovered sometime Monday, but the ENTIRE contents of the trailer were gone. Included in the loss were approximately 24 Caveat Emptors and Mini Light You Up bottles. So those of you in the Houston area, if you find a good deal on a Caveat Emptor, Chip & I would love to know of the person you get it from. This was caught on video, but we are not too hopeful of this helping us catch the perps. You Texas chileheads are our best shot.

The CEs were only a part of what was stolen. All of the display units and inventory from both companies are “in the wind”. PBR barrel racks, slanted sauce display boards, many, many bottles of “State specific” sauces (Texas Road Kill, Oklahoma Rt. 66 etc) Arizona Pickles brand sauces, even some Bret’s Eat S%^* and Howl at the Moon. Fatalii Fire, Black Mamba (with bags & snakes, we never have wholesaled this packaging to anyone) Talon, Frostbite, the entire remaining inventory of Houston, We Have a Problem!, Ignite, Island Jewel and many many more.

It sucks this happened, and Chip (Dude) is still stuck in Houston waiting to get his truck road worthy for the trip back to Columbus. If anyone in Texas sees any of this stuff at Flea Markets, Swap Meets etc., please let me or Chip know about it.

There are many less of the Caveat Emptors available now, I am honoring all the promises I made before ZestFest and you guys will get first dibs, we will get those of you who have sent Nick emails next in the order they were sent.

Thanks for all the Love in this thread, it makes Sue & I very happy that we have so many friends out in the Chilehead World. We will do our best to live up to your expectations. Thanks for your help!

- CaJohn

If anyone does want to submit thier CE numbers to a list so we can track all the known purchases can send their number(s) to collectors@hotsauceblog.com

Ultimately, if the stolen bottles are not recovered, there should only be 76 or so of these on the market.