What Is The Strongest Pepper Spray?

There is probably nobody on the planet better qualified to answer that question than the people at TigerLight. Why is that?”  Well, for the past 20 years or more, TigerLight has been a clearinghouse for all the top sprays used by major law enforcement and military organizations.  

TigerLight does not make it’s own spray. TigerLight started out going to all the police departments and introducing a better way to use pepper spray by putting it in a flashlight in your hand rather than a can on your belt. Rather than try to get the department or officer to change pepper spray, which would be a much more difficult and time consuming task, TigerLight simply worked with the spray manufacturer to put the currently used pepper spray in a custom canister to be inserted in the TigerLight. That way TigerLight could offer any brand and spray pattern the department already had approved for use.

Over the years, TigerLight used at least 7 of the major brands. Certain sprays have performed the best but all sprays perform much better in a TigerLight. The very best have been selected by TigerLight to be used and recommended to agencies, or have been selected by TigerLight to be sold to civilians. 

So, which is the strongest, hottest, most potent pepper spray in the world, legal for use by humans on humans.

The truth is, even though we can give a pretty accurate answer to that question, the answer will not necessarily tell you which is the best pepper spray you can buy. That is like trying to find out which quarterback is the best by asking which one is the strongest, smartest, fastest, throws the farthest or is the most accurate. None of those things, individually, determine what makes the best quarterback. In fact, it might not be any or even all of those things put together, that determines which quarterback is the best.

There are many other things that factor into determining which quarterback is best. Some are mental while others are physical. Others deal with synergism or how two or three attributes work together to produce a result superior to the sum of or effect of, the individual parts. 

There are many issues with the, “What is the strongest pepper spray?” question, even if the question is, “What is the hottest pepper spray?” Can you rely on what is on the label?  

According to this study done by the University of Utah, you cannot depend on what it says on the label or in advertisements for almost all the major brands of pepper spray, with very few exceptions.  

Yes, you can look at the specifications and see things like 10%, 2 million SHU, or 2%, 5.3 million SHU. Or, you can look at the Major Capsaicinoid percentage, which is a better indication of the product’s potency or heat level than percentage of pepper spray or Scoville Heat Units. 

You will find names like Sabre Red, Guardian PD, Fox Labs, Freeze+ P, Punch, BodyGuard, Mace, ZARC and others.

Then, you can ask yourself whether or not the spray in the can matches the claims on the label. Are they tested? Who are they tested by? 

First of all, shouldn’t the question really be, “Which pepper spray is most effective at stopping the widest variety of attackers in the most frequent types of attacks?” In other words, don’t we all really want to know which one is most likely to enable us to stop the person or animal that attacks us, or attacks someone we love?

What about the shape and size of the container, the actuator mechanism’s function and position, the safety mechanism, indexing, retention, volume and distance? Does it’s operation require fine motor skills under stress or extensive training?

What about the spray pattern, particle size, velocity and volume? What about the speed of deployment? Is deployment stealth or advertised?

Does it incapacitate by pain, respiratory impact or both?  Can it stop an attacker on PCP or some other pain reducing drug? How?

Let’s start with the question of pepper spray POTENCY.

In the University of Utah study, some sprays actual potency was 1/100th the advertised potency. In other words, you could probably use it on your taco, but not on an attacker, as far as potency goes. Nevertheless, propellents and other ingredients make that highly unadvisable. In fact, only two of the many sprays tested in the University of Utah study consistently met their claims. They are the two sprays currently being used by TigerLight and are those most frequently used by law enforcement and military organizations, departments and agencies.

Of course, the large, fire extinguisher or riot control size bear spray canisters are, in fact, more potent than regular pepper spray, but it is illegal to use Bear Spray on humans and could result in very large fines and/or jail time. The truth is, bear spray is not practical for personal self defense, except against bears. 

The most important consideration when it comes to which is the best pepper spray for self defense is whether it will be in your hand when you are attacked. If it will not be in your hand and usable in a sudden, violent, physical attack, it does not matter how hot it is.

There are various sprays that are very hot including all those mentioned above. The two most used by Law enforcement and D.O.D. agencies at the time of this writing are Sabre Red and Guardian PD, which are the two most used by TigerLight.

Sabre Red is currently used in the D.A.D. and Guardian PD was used in the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department study on the TigerLight, which proved the TigerLight to be the “Best, most effective non-lethal defense device in the world.” 

Notice that the particular Guardian PD spray used in the study with 500 deputies over 6 months, was only a .69 percent major capsaicinoid spray compared to other Guardian PD sprays or Sabre Red, which have a Major Capsaicinoid rating of 1.33 percent, or nearly double the potency or heat of the pepper spray used in the study. The TigerLights used in the study achieved an unprecedented 96% stop rate, far above other flashlight spray devices tested and far above any other non-lethal or less than lethal device including stun devices and belt carried sprays. The TigerLight also had a hugely dramatic impact on the level and use of force required to safely incapacitate violent individuals and actually saved the lives of an estimated 4-6 individuals during the study.

What does this tell us about the question, “What is the Strongest Pepper Spray?”

It tells us that although things like Spray Percentage, Scoville Heat Units and Major Capsaicinoid ratings are factors in determining what might be the best pepper spray, those things are absolutely not the most important factors. 

If, by “strongest” one means “most effective” or “best” then the strongest, most effective, best spray is the one used in a TigerLight. This is an indisputable fact. Find out more by visiting the TigerLight website.