A plant grower from Denbighshire has developed what he believes is the world's hottest chilli pepper.
Mike Smith, from St Asaph, has grown the Dragon's Breath chilli with help from Nottingham Trent University.
It has a Scoville scale rating of 2.4 million units of heat, compared to 1.5 million of the current record holder.
Mr Smith said the chilli's heat was "beyond" and could not be eaten, but could instead be used as an alternative to anaesthetics in third world countries.
Mr Smith has been growing plants for about eight years and the Dragon's Breath chilli was born out of a trial of new plant food developed by Nottingham Trent University which aims to increase the quality and resistance of plants.
He said he had not tasted it as it "would not be a pleasant sensation," adding, "the heat is beyond".
Describing his previous experience of tasting hot chillies, he described the heat as "building up and up" about half an hour after biting into them.
