Pepper Spray - Best New Packaging Winner

Security Equipment Corporation (SEC), manufacturers of SABRE pepper sprays and SABRE personal safety products, has been named by the Automotive Aftermarket Products Expo (AAPEX) as a 2011 New Packaging Showcase Winner in the marketing category.  The win comes as a result of SEC’s redesigned packaging for their popular pink pepper spray unit benefitting The National Breast Cancer Foundation (model # HC-NBCF-01 & KR-NBCF-02).  The SABRE RED packaging was redesigned to showcase SEC’s commitment to safety and education through their support of the NBCF as well as through the SABRE’s Personal Safety Academy (PSA).

The partnership between Security Equipment and the National Breast Cancer Foundation enables consumers throughout the United States to support an excellent charity while equipping themselves or a loved one with the increased safety provided by SABRE RED pepper spray.  Since 2009, SEC has provided the NBCF with incredible support donating over $350,000 to become a Platinum Level Sponsor.  Look for the new pink packaging and join the fight against both cancer and crime. “We are very honored and excited to win this award, especially since the show was sold out with nearly 5,000 booths”, said David Nance, SEC’s Vice President of Sales & Marketing.  The Best Packaging award was decided upon by The Institue of Packaging Professionals.  Excellent packaging, outstanding product reliability and smart branding strategies are top reasons why SABRE RED is the number one selling pepper spray worldwide.

Personal Safety: How to Start a Life-Saving Habit

What’s the one thing you can’t leave home without? Maybe your wallet or your keys or your children. What about your phone? We live in an age of 24/7 contact where absence of technology can literally bring people anxiety. But how often are you prepared to protect yourself when heading outdoors?

There’s probably not a day goes by when we don’t buy something or communicate via phone. Therefore, remembering our credit card and cell becomes second nature. It’s common to relegate personal safety because we aren’t confronted daily by that uneasiness of not being prepared like we are with money or ability to reach people. At the end of the day though, we face potentially greater consequences for not being ready to protect ourselves than for being stranded at the counter with no means of paying, no matter how embarrassing that is.

We need to train ourselves to consistently think about safety. Just like getting fit, safety is all about the routine, but less painful. There will be those days when you think, “I’ll just skip today. One day doesn’t matter.” Anyone who’s failed a diet or workout plan will tell you that’s the start of a slippery slope. When it comes to your safety, that one day could be the day you become the target of an attack. So, we might as well get into the habit earlier than later.

To help kick start the habit, SABRE is introducing a great solution for iPhones users - just in time for the New Year! The new SABRE SmartGuard includes a compact pepper spray baton built into the iPhone hard case. Now your pepper spray goes wherever your iPhone goes, which is probably wherever you are. And the integrated safety tab will help ensure that the spray doesn’t go off in your purse or pocket. And for the extremely cautious, rest assured knowing you have to remove the baton to deploy the spray even when it’s up to your ear. You always have your phone in case of emergency. So, why not have added back-up that’s just as accessible, but more effective in any instance when you are forced to protect yourself immediately?

Is Pepper Spray Reliable?

Did you know pepper sprays have been proven to fail 30% of the time due to inconsistent levels?  CLICK HERE for the University of Utah Study confirming this statement.

As you could probably guess, pepper sprays (aka mace or personal safety sprays) come from naturally grown peppers.  The strength of these peppers are affected by climatic factors such as sunlight, rainfall, temperature.  As the climate changes, so does the strength of red pepper harvests and pepper sprays.  Wine makers experience the same challenges as a good grape harvest will produce higher quality wine and vice versa.

Here’s the good news!  Security Equipment Corporation (SEC), manufacture of SABRE pepper sprays, operates an in-house High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) Laboratory to eliminate failures which would occur due to inconsistent heat levels.  SABRE’s HPLC laboratory measures and helps SEC ensure its capsaicinoid levels are met in every SABRE batch.  (Capsaicinoids by the way are the only proven method measure pepper spray strength.)  Additionally, SEC is the only manufacture in the industry to operate an HPLC Laboratory. Because of this, SEC is the only company that guarantees they will NEVER have an OC failure due to inconsistent heat levels.

When protecting yourself or your family, you want Reliability, not Variability.  You want SABRE’s HPLC Guarantee, the pepper spray industry’s #1 Advantage!

Pepper Spray Strength: How Hot Is It Really?

The topic of pepper spray or mace strength is often a confusing and misinterpreted subject. This may be because potency levels are often purposely misconstrued by some manufacturers to seem stronger (Hint: 5.3 Million Scoville Heat Units) or other times due to misinformation. There are two common inaccurate measures of pepper spray strength and one true indicator of strength. 

The one correct indicator of pepper spray potency, as recognized by the EPA & US Federal Government, is Major Capsaicinoids (MC). MC represents the strength of the entire formulation within your pepper spray. Typical sprays range from 0.18 to 1.33% MC. The higher the MC of the pepper spray the greater the potency.  Sprays with higher MC are more effective as well. A good example, Gasoline, is typically 87, 89 or 91 Octane. The higher gasoline’s octane rating, the greater the fuels performance.  Proof, another example, is the measure of liquor strength. The higher the proof, the stronger the liquor.

Bear Attack Deterrent Sprays measure between 1.0% to 2.0% Major Capsaicinoids.

The two inaccurate measures of pepper spray strength are Oleoresin Capsicum percentages (OC%) & Scoville Heat Units (SHUs). Pepper sprays contains anywhere from 2-10% OC, but OC% only measures the amount of raw pepper or Oleoresin Capsicum (OC) within the pepper spray formulation.  The OC% does not take into account the actual potency of that OC. SHUs are an inaccurate measure because they only measure the strength of the previously mentioned raw OC, which is then diluted from 90 to 98% because OC only measures between 2-10% of the formulation. Here is an example of how SHU can be misleading:  a 5.3 Million SHU spray with 2% OC measures only 0.71% MC. while a 2 Million SHU spray with 10% OC measures 1.33% MC. Which spray is more potent? The 1.33 MC pepper spray is nearly twice the strength.

So when purchasing pepper spray, remember major capsaicinoids equals strength!  If you’re currently in need of your own defense spray, Security Equipment Corporation (manufacturer of SABRE & SABRE RED personal safety sprays, aka pepper spray or mace) has proven time again to produce the best. CLICK HERE to purchase your own!