The Scoville scale, named after American pharmacist Wilbur Scoville, is a means to measure the relative "hotness" of chili peppers.
The units of measure are the Scoville Heat Unit (SHU) which indicates how much capsaicin (the compound responsible for "hotness") found in peppers. While this scale is not as precise as scientific measurement methods like high-performance liquid chromatography, and kind of subjective, it provides a reasonable comparison.
The following chart gives the Scoville ratings for various common peppers.
| Scoville Heat Units (SHU) | Pepper |
|---|---|
| 15,000,000 - 16,000,000 | Pure capsaicin. Don't put this on your food. |
| 1,500,000 - 2,500,000 | California Reaper. This is a cross-breed between the bhut jolokia (ghost pepper) and a red habanero. It was rated as the world's hottest pepper by the Guiness Book of World Records as of August 7 2013. |
| 855,0000 - 1,000,0000 | bhut jolokia pepper (also known as Naja jolokia or the ghost pepper) |
| 100,000 - 350,000 |  Habanero Pepper |
| 100,000 - 325,000 |  Scotch Bonnet Pepper |
| 30,000 - 40,000 |  Cayenne Pepper |
| 10,000 - 23,000 |  Serrano Pepper |
| 2,500-8,000 |  Jalapeno Pepper |
| 1,000-1,500 |  Poblano Pepper |
| 100-500 |  Pimento pepper |
| 0 |  Bell pepper |