Review: Pepsi Max Cease Fire with Doritos 1st Degree Burn Blazin' Jalapeno, Doritos 2nd Degree Burn Fiery Buffalo, and Doritos 3rd Degree Burn Scorchin' Habanero
Mar 8th, 2010 by Steve
What's this? Is Pepsi expanding their Pepsi Max line? Are they finally stepping up to the plate against Coke Zero and its spinoff flavors Cherry and Vanilla?
Well, not quite.
The company has rolled out Pepsi Max Cease Fire as a limited time beverage, something that Pepsi loves to do for some reason — can I get an "Amen" from all the Pepsi Throwback and Mountain Dew Throwback fans?
Officially, the zero calorie cola "with a hint of lime flavor" will be available for 8 weeks, starting February 22. For those of you without calendars, that puts the production run ending around April 19. The drink will be available in both 20 oz and 2-litter plastic bottles.
Now, I do give the folks at PepsiCo credit for cross-promotion, however. It seems Pepsi's Cease Fire is designed to "complement a new line of Doritos – Doritos Burn, which will be available for a limited time" — which just happened to be made by sister company Frito Lay. So you have a really hot and spicy chip, thus you need to wash it down with a beverage. Gotta love corporate synergy!
Incidentally, the Burn series includes these 3 flavors:
- Doritos 1st Degree Burn Blazin' Jalapeno
- Doritos 2nd Degree Burn Fiery Buffalo
- Doritos 3rd Degree Burn Scorchin' Habanero
The bottle of Pepsi Max Cease Fire features a black label with the red/white/black logo introduced with the 2008 Pepsi logo redesign. The color scheme is accentuated by green highlights to visualize the addition of lime to the flavor, including a green cap. A small half-lime icon can be found below the product name, as well as a 'fire' graphic with the phrase "Cool the Burn" that ties into the Doritos Fire cross-promotion. The previous "0 cal/car/sug" callout that was found towards the bottom on regular Pepsi Max as been shifted towards the top, simply highlighting "0 calorie cola" in a more visible location.
A large part of label real estate is also devoted to the "Cool the Burn" callout for the Pepsi Max Cease Fire/Doritos Burn marketing plan. Next to a Doritos logo, the text reads:
Cool the BurnNew Doritos Burn Flavors and Pepsi Max Cease Fire are the perfect combination of tempting heat and calming cool. With the fireproof formula of Pepsi Max Cease Fire, you'll keep on coming back for more. So prepare your mouth for the pleasure of two highly reactive flavors."
Upon opening a bottle of Cease Fire, you'll note that there is a slight hint of citrus smell on top of the generally-expected Pepsi scent. The color is the same as traditional Pepsi Max.
When I finally took a sip of this beverage, frankly, I was disappointed. With all the hype about a "hint of lime flavor," I expected that in the taste. But to be honest, there was little to no lime actually detectable, with any trace of it only being in the front part of the sip, completely disappearing in the middle and aftertaste portions of the tasting. The lime could have been so much stronger, more on par with the flavoring found in Diet Pepsi with Lime or Diet Coke with Lime.
Also keep in mind that this is a diet beverage, sweetened with aspartame and acesulfame potassium (Ace K), so you will have an "fake" aftertaste to deal with. In some ways, I may actually think that Pepsi Max Cease Fire may have a more negative aftertaste than the flagship Pepsi Max itself.
Ingredients:
Pepsi Max Cease Fire
Carbonated water, caramel color, natural flavor, phosphoric acid, aspartame, caffeine, potassium sorbate (preserves freshness), acesulfame potassium, citric acid, calcium disodium EDTA (to protect flavor), panax ginseng root extract
Cease Fire contains 5.875 mg/oz of caffeine, slightly more than Pepsi Max. In contrast, traditional Pespi contains 3.2 mg/oz., while Mountain Dew Throwback contains 4.6 mg/oz. Ginseng has also been added as a stimulant. A 20 oz. bottle contains 0 calories, 0 g of sugars, and 62.5 mg sodium.
Given that Cease Fire is being marketed as the liquid compliment to the Doritos Burn franchise, we picked up all 3 flavors of the chip lineup and tasted them alongside the drink. Granted, we aren't a snack food resource here at BevReview, but we are more than glad to offer some comments about these chips.
First off is Doritos 1st Degree Burn: Blazin' Jalapeno, packaged in a yellow bag. I love the naming convention on these chips, following the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd degree burn labeling. Clever! These chips match the bag color somewhat, being more yellow/gold in visual look. They definitely smell like jalapeno is involved. As for taste, they start out pretty mild but then kick in with the hotness on the backend. As more chips are eaten, the heat just builds.
Next up was orange-packaged Doritos 2nd Degree Burn: Fiery Buffalo. The chips themselves looked a lot like standard Doritos, maybe with a few hints of redder color thrown in. And yes, they did smell like buffalo wings, which was tempting. Personally, I liked the flavor quite a bit, even if they didn't taste exactly like the sauce associated with wings. The average taster may find them slightly hotter than the 1st Degree Burn flavor, but I felt they were on par with the heat. I expected a great increase in flavor temperature, but this seemed like a milder increase. Not a problem, however.
Finally we have Doritos 3rd Degree Burn: Scorchin' Habanero, which comes in a red bag. The red continues when you look at the flavor of the chips, hinting visually that these are hot. It almost looks like the type of coloring you see added to Cheetos Flamin' Hot snacks and the flavor tends to be on par with that as well. Are the chips hot? Yes… on a time delay. When you first sample them, they don't seem too hot. But then things get warm a few seconds later. They weren't intolerable, but they definitely warmer than the 1st and 2nd Degree Doritos Burn options. I'm not sure much flavor actually comes through in that hotness; personally, I probably would select the 1st Degree option if I actually wanted to enjoy taste.
But how did Pepsi Max Cease Fire compliment these 3 types of chips? Well, after tasting a few chips of each flavor, we drank Cease Fire to see what happened. The result was pretty much the same in every situation, no matter the "hotness." Yes, your mouth is soothed somewhat, but the burn comes back. Of course, let's be honest here… a soda is not a neutralizer when it comes to spicy, hot foods… for that you are going to need a base like milk (which is exactly what my wife did after the testing was over).
While I like the idea behind the combination of Pepsi Max Cease Fire and the Doritos Burn line of chips, execution seems to be primarily on the marketing side rather than actual taste experience. Cease Fire is barely an improvement to the Pepsi Max line, despite the hype associated with the lime. Doritos fans should be happy with another 3 flavors to add to the zillion already available. As far as the "compliment" angle, that's questionable. It's a gimmick.
I hate diet soda and there's no way I'd drink it after eating these chips. I tried the Buffalo and Jalapeno versions and the Jalapeno was more tolerable.
I caved to the allure of the store display just an hour ago, and after trying this new version of Pepsi Max, I across this article. And I have to agree with the description.
Plus, with the moniker "Cease Fire", as well as terms like "cooling" and "calming" in the marketing — including a "Cool The Burn" snipe on the front of the label — the implication is that is this formulation has some sort of impact on the burn of the chips. It does not. Let's face it, carbonated water with phosphoric and citric acids just don't do a lot to undermine the heat.
I agree that the co-branding is a smooth move for PepsiCo/Frito-Lay — and as a copywriter, I have to give a nod to "Cease Fire" as pretty cleaver — but it fails to deliver what's promised. I know, I'm shocked, too; normally soft drink marketing is spot-on (ahem).
I don't drink any diet sodas often but when I was at BP and saw a coupon for free Doritos with the Pepsi Max: Cease Fire and I only had $3 in my pocket I had to get it. I love the flavor. I agree its in no way a neutralizer but it does have a nice lime flavor.
Diet Pepsi Max is the bomb. I wanna taste the new version coming out with the 69mg of caffeine. Diet soda tastes as good to me as regular soda. Just have to get used to it. DPM is definitely what I look for and buy. B-Koo!
where can you buy those? i cant find them anywhere
My husband heard the ad on the radio but are currently only able to find them at the BP station. So I bought 6 Pepsi Max Cease Fire and 2 bags each of the Doritos 1st Degree Burn Blazin' Jalapeno, Doritos 2nd Degree Burn Fiery Buffalo, and Doritos 3rd Degree Burn Scorchin' Habanero. I have only tried the 1st and 2nd Degree so far and love them. They remind me of the salsa we make that almost makes you eyes water as soon as you open it. As far as the Pepsi Max Cease Fire goes I will probably only drink while eating these Doritos or keep it on hand for spicy foods.
The pepsi max sounded so good with the hint of lime I had to try it, I was very disappointed to find that it is diet! Yuk. My daughter and i also had pepsi with a hint of lemon awhile back and liked it very much. We've not seen it since. Whats up??
My girlfriend heard the radio ad and thought it was marketing genius. Since I haven't been to a store to see the product yet – I hit the net and found this article. I was thinking perhaps they had some chemical in the Pepsi that neutralized the burn, apparently not. Whew. That alleviates my need to try the diet product just to see if it works. I will try the Doritos when I see them though, for sure. Bring on the heat! Now if I can just find a Mexican Pepsi to wash it down with – because Pepsi throwback seems to be gone…
I haven't seen the chips yet but I just tried the drink and it's pretty tasty. A bit more refreshing than most sodas and a less heavy because it's diet. Good lime flavor, not too heavy, just enough to taste. I will definitely get this again.
Jim–if you're looking for Pepsi with sugar (not corn syrup) grab some Pepsi that's labeled Kosher for passover. All sugar, all the time. Yayss!
My area was offly strange. I saw the coupon first, so I was like "Yes, finally its coming). A week later. Coupons ripped off fridge. Okay that probably isn't god (???). Finally I find the Burn display while getting a Slurpee (I think March 5th). I guess the soda will make itself appear! Eh, I guess not. It appears to have stopped a little outside my distribution area. Well I guess I'll just wait until my Binghampton trip. Yes, I finally found it! Okay, now I'll tate test it once I get to the hotel (March 23). 3/31/10: Okay, my review; Well I liked the Doritos:
1st Buffalo
2nd Habenaro
3rd Jalapeno
Okay, little carbonation. Thats a "Really great sign"; Kinda smells like lime, tastes like… Pepsi Max!…………..
Guess my taste buds really suck at tasting soda OR it was very tame flavor. I'm thinking the latter. Of course I had to push the Habenaro against my tounge then drink the Cease Fire. Really "cooled it"! Overall, I'm still trying to figure out m feelings about this.
Did I waste my time searching for it?
Was this a extremely pointless beverage?
Well, atleast Cherry Vanilla will be with sugar….
Steve,
Thanks for taking the time to do this, what a great description you laid out. I haven't even heard of this advertising concept until somebody emailed this to me. I'm going to go out and see if I can find the chips and do a "contest" it would be fun. I'm SURE I agree with you 100%. Just wanted to say thanks to you and your wife for being our guinea pigs!
Sherry
I've been searching for these chips for the last month. Can't find them in Stop n Shop, Shaw's, BJ's, or Walmart. Where have you been able to find them ?
I couldn't disagree with this review any more. They added the perfect amount of lime to the Pepsi Max, fake lime tastes nasty so this slight hint was the perfect move just a slight change in overall taste then a whisper of lime after taste. While it won't actually cool your mouth, the hint of lime matched with the burn of regular pepsi max creates this super almost mint-like seriously cool refreshing taste. I give it a 10 and hope they remove it from the market soon so I can kick the habit.
yo anything that any company makes or anything u ppl make that you try and make hot is prob. mild…..if ur gonna make something hot well prob hot to all u but not me is use the bhut pepper the hottest pepper in the world.i bought the powder on line and use it for ever thing along with and and all other peppers or powders that r suppose to b hot….ull whimps
[...] worthless. However, the good folks over at bevreview.com reviewed both the chips AND the soda, so you should read that instead. If you're not into the whole "clicking links" thing, here's a summary of [...]
Maybe its just me but 1st degree burn was not hot at all and 2nd and 3rd degree burn bags were fire (yeeeoooowwwwweeeee) i loved them theyre sooooo good… but the cease fire pepsi did not stop the burn at all… lol oh well, still liked the chips though!
I have been looking at every store gas station and you name it cannot find these chips. Looks like i am not alone on this one.
Well I bought this Pepsi max cease fire with one prupose in mind. I go to this Mexican restaurant that has THE BEST Salsa EVER. It is a salsa that sneaks up on you to. on Tacos it's not a problem eat wise but with chips?!? You start eating it and it just tastes great after a few chips it gets hot fast! So I figured that was the perfect test for Cease fire! Normally i would have a glass of milk to put out the fire and then start eating the chips and salsa al over again! So I bought the salsa form the restaurant and on the way home stopped and got Tostitos chips and cease fire. I do drink Deit pop all the time in fact diet pepsi but I normally drink caffiene free as I am addicted to caffiene and really need to avoid it. headaches and such when i drink it too much and very very very bad headaches when the withdrawls come! Think of the worst headache you ever had times 2! So a drink with more than averege caffeine is nto really a good idea for me I acgtually started drinking Coke zero cause I thought it was caffeien free cause I thought it was zero everything and when the headaches came my boss told me Coke zero is loaded with caffeine like more than normal so I looked and said oh crap here comes the withdrawls again. I alwasy look at the labels carefully now. But just one bottle of pepsi max shouldn't send me down the addict road LOL it's not like cocaine or anything or alcohol so anyway after eating my chips and salsa and getting the heat goign I drank a whole glass of the cease fire and as with ANY OTHER SODA it cooled only while the soda was in your mouth as soon as you swallowed back came the heat! So the cease fire part is well nonsense! Out came the milk! Milk or eating bread type products are really the only thoing that gets rid of the heat of any kind of hot pepper concoction. it has to absorb the oils off the tongue. Water and soda's don't do that. And neither does "cease fire" It also doesn't taste all that good. Pepsi with Lime is better and Coke with Lime even better. But I don't really like Lime in my pop either. Cherry? sure. WILD CHERRY PEPSI is really good! Much better than Cherry Coke! Want a unique flavor? mix either Coke or Pepsi with either a little bit of Dr. Pepper or Rootbeer. Or heck try both! Doesn't take alot either just a bit to top it off.
I tried Cease Fire today for the first time thanks to a coupon for a free two liter with the Doritos. While I still do not know what makes it "Max," was unaware it was a diet drink, and did not notice the very subtle hint of lime until researching the product online, I would give it 7 out of 10. Based on some of the other comments here, it appears that Pepsi's marketing and product labeling departments need to step it up or "Max" will have a "Mini" product life.
I saw these a Kents(a local grocery store). They were selling the pepsiMAX Cease Fire 5 for a $1. How can I pass up a deal like that!
I loaded up with about 400 20oz'rs WOOT.
well I have tried the 1st and 2nd degree burn they are pretty good first time I tried the 2nd degree they were pretty hot but I have since gotten used to them have a bag every day on my way home from work. I have not tried the pepsi max yet didn't know which drink it was they came out with to extinguish the fire until now. My wife just found the pepsi and MD throwbacks were out again at a local store here that is great hoping to find the Dr Pepper throwback soon. The only problem is they will take them off the market too again. Pepsi must be in with Hardees because they are always doing that too as they do it all the time with the jalapeno thickburger they really need to stop teasing their customers this way.
Well, the Cease Fire seems to be officially gone everywhere. And I've had the last of my remaining stash.
I agree the lime was only a "hint" but, when I went back to the regular Pepsi Max, I sure did miss it. In fact, the lime is what made Pepsi Max drinkable to me. The first couple of bottles, I really didn't notice the lime that much…but I don't know if I acclimated to the taste or if they slightly changed the formula, but I could taste the lime more in the later bottles I had. I do miss it now, though, and can't drink regular Pepsi Max anymore. So, it's back to the Lime Diet Pepsi (which finally got the new label design here, about a month ago).
You know they still sell Pepsi and Mountain Dew throwback where i live In Fresno, California. =)