3 Easy Steps to Home-made Pepper Spray

Warning: Laws vary from Country to Country, even from State to State. Know and abide by your local laws before making any kind of home-made pepper spray.

In one of the most embarrassing incidents in Argentina’s football history, fans of Boca Juniors Club attacked rival players of River Plate Club as they went into the pitch after half time. They used a home-made type of pepper spray known as “mostacero”, which is typically made by inmates in prisons. This liquid was made using cayenne pepper and acid. While cayenne pepper isn’t among the hottest peppers, the acid in the mix is a particularly evil addition which can cause permanent injury or death. Before you get any ideas, remember that liquids and gases for self-defense that cause permanent injury or death are banned in most countries.
Commercial OC spray is still the best non-lethal defensive tool at hand. Its cheap, you can have it delivered to your door and it works very well within its intended purpose of use. I recommend SABRE RED, as this is the one most often used in Argentina with good results.

SABRE RED Pepper Gel - Police Strength $12.99

The active ingredient in pepper spray, capsicum, is actually the same component found in most hot peppers, so while not as practical as commercial OC spray, a home-made version can be effective as well.
1)The first thing you need to do is to get yourself some peppers, the hotter they are the better. The hotness of the pepper is rated in Scoville Heat Unit. Commercial Capsaicin pepper spray has around 2.000.000 SHU. Ghost Chile Pepper is considered one of the hottest peppers in the world. Usually exceeding one million SHU, its about 400 times hotter than Tabasco Sauce. At the moment the Carolina Reaper Peppers are officially considered to be the hottest in the world. The practical difference in SHU may be marginal so I would suggest going for the one you have available in powder form. You can use dry peppers but this will require processing it into powder.
You will also need alcohol, mineral oil, an empty plastic bottle (small, half liter soda bottle will do) to mix the ingredients and a container to use the pepper solution.
2)Pour the ingredients into the plastic bottle. Use latex gloves, a face mask and if possible do this outdoors or at least in a well-ventilated area. The mix will stain clothes pretty bad as well. Mix 2 tablespoons of Ghost Pepper powder. 1 tablespoon of mineral oil and 7 ounces of rubbing alcohol. Close the bottle with its cap, shake it well and let it rest in a cool dark place for 24 hours.
3)Using a cloth or rag to filter the solid particles, pour it into another container. Make sure you use gloves, mask and eye protection here as well. Once you have the filtered solution look for a spray bottle to keep it handy. Water guns have been recommended at times, but most of these tend to leak very bad so check before using. Small spray bottles work nicely. Lens cleaner bottles are small and throw a jet when pressed hard. Try getting one that throws a jet of liquid rather than a cloud of particles so as to have better range.
That’s it folks. Not as handy a commercial OC spray, but better than nothing.
FerFAL
Fernando “FerFAL” Aguirre is the author of “The Modern Survival Manual: Surviving the Economic Collapse” and “Bugging Out and Relocating: When Staying is not an Option”.