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To expand on #2 - something ice cold and creamy. Yogurt-based drinks, thai iced tea, milk shake. These work a lot better than water to cool your mouth down, and soooo much better than anything carbonated, which usually makes my mouth a little warmer.

Oh how I love my spicy food!

I love spicy food! I was fortunate enough to grow up with it, so my tolerance is generally pretty high. Remember, it's not Thai food unless you are sweating! :P

Not to cheapen the discussion or anything, but I would recommend getting a box of baby wipes or something of the sort and keeping it in your bathroom cabinet, especially if your body can't handle spicy foods very well. Your posterior will thanks you!

I swear by full-fat milk as a fire extinguisher for spicy foods, though that can get filling if you're doing a whole spicy meal.

Exactly, maddhatter, this should be clarified. Drinking ice water is not helpful.

The spiciness you're tasting is oil-based, so water doesn't dilute it. Water doesn't make it worse, per se, but it does wash any other food and flavors out of your mouth, relatively intensifying the spicy taste and feel.

Milk, alcohol, or a citrusy drink are what you want to drink with a spicy snack.

A friend of mine from Thailand taught me this trick. If you've taken a REALLY spicy bite, gargle with luke-warm water. DON'T swallow, just gargle and spit a few times - please do this in the restroom. The water swishes out the residual heat that might otherwise hang out in your mouth. I've tried it and am a believer.

My mother fed me chili peppers as a child to build up my resistance.

I'm not kidding when I say I like my food spicy.

Oh, and I second the mouth swishing with warm water. Worked for me as a kid.

I can handle it in my mouth but my hands always swell a little when I chop a lot of peppers and it never fails that I somehow touch my face and light it on fire.

Wipe your face/hands down with vegetable oil. It works wonders.

I'm too lazy to look up and cite my source, but it's out there. The heat/pain scale is rated on how many squirts of sugar water it takes to tame the fire of the chilies. Therefore : sugar. Plain old sugar.

I've always drank milk when you get that burning feeling on your lips and in your mouth.

Milk products... Straight milk, yogurt, sour cream. I have noticed my tolerance is growing. So strange!

Emily

I use ice chips when i am in over my head, like when i come across really spicy tortas ahogadas, but i dont really enjoy the food as much after since i feel you lose part of that whole taste experience. In Mexico where salsas are a must and no meal is whole without them, squeezing lime juice over the salsas like on your tacos for example will make reaaally hot sauces like Habanero or a spicy salsa verde tolerable for those who are newbies to spicy mexican. You have to slowly increase your tolerance, any other way takes away from the flavor.

Mango Lassi. Yum. Cools the heat, I love spicy food that makes my eyes water, but it's always nice to order a mango lassi (or other creamy drink) to cool the heat a bit.

Don't drink water or water-based ice cubes - water spreads the capsicin molecules around your tongue, causing more pain. Drink milk or yogurt. Eating bread or plain tortillas also helps.

ScottyT - I don't think you're lowering the discussion, you're providing a very helpful tip! My mouth handles spicy better than my digestion sometimes and there are precautions that can be taken...

Interesting. My husband has a poor tolerance for spicy food and he is the fastest eater I have met in my life. Maybe the two are connected?

Thanks for all the tips. I may need some help though.

First off, my tolerance for spicy food is pretty good. I prefer spice to a regular tasting dish. I've cried while eating because of the spice, but loved every second of it. Now comes a nice little challenge - "fire in the hole" chicken wings from Pluckers (a "wingery" based in Austin, TX).

So a buddy of mine is talking about these wings and how if you eat 25 of them in a sitting, they'll plaster your picture on their hall of fame wall. He says they're so spicy that they'll make your lips swell, and the sauce can eat away into your cuticles causing major discomfort. Right away I tell him we should do the challenge and now there's around 6 of us that are going to do this together. We are not to eat or drink anything that will dilute the spice during the meal (exception water - which will be a bad move). Any suggestions? I think I've built a good tolerance over the years, but this could prove to be the spiciest food I've ever had. I will be wearing a sweat band on my head and arm, and will be trying to shatter the 25 wing minimum. My goal is 100, so not only will this be a question of spice tolerance, but of stomach prowess. Wish me well, and thanks for the article! :)

I find sucking on lemon slices helps. I'm not sure why. I read it in a William Gibson novel and thought it was worth a try!

I think some people are unable to build a tolerance, no matter what they try. My mother was Mexican, and loved her hot sauces. She tried to get me to sample them, when I was young, and I could never handle the pain. The family joke was that I inherited my dad's Polish/Italian/German tastebuds. To this day, I can barely handle "medium" hot salsa, no matter if I eat dairy or whatever to calm the sensation. The mouth pain lingers and lingers. However, my husband (who is Greek), seemed to pick up a tolerance in his teens, when he hung out with his Mexican friends, eating tacos, etc. He finds it funny that I can't do spicy!