Like most good ideas, the Clifton Chilli Club started over a few pints in the local pub.

Three men with very different backgrounds and careers soon realised they had something in common when they started chatting about chillies.

The Clifton Chilli Club is now, quite literally, the hottest club in Bristol, and this Saturday it holds its latest event in the Coach and Horses pub, just off Whiteladies Road.

The three men who started this unique club are Jim Booth, Dave MacDonald and Dave L (whose military background dictates a degree of anonymity).

They met two years ago when they all lived in the same Clifton street and drank in the same local pub. It was only then that they realised they shared the same passion for chillies.

"We were chatting about the usual pub topics of football, boxing, food and women and suddenly the subject of chillies came up," laughs Jim, who works in security.

"I don't know how it blossomed beyond a shared love of the chilli but it suddenly exploded.

"We went on a few field trip to a chilli farm in Dorset and we had a great time watching chilli demonstrations and chatting to growers and it went from there."

After a couple more field trips to growers, suppliers and food festivals, the Clifton Chilli Club was launched in the summer of 2009.

Since then, the club has grown considerably through its website, which has its own YouTube page where you can watch club members eating the hottest chillies. The video of Dave L eating a Naga Viper – one of the hottest chillies in the world – makes for essential, if painful, viewing.

Jim says: "We've had loads of hits for that video. Last month, a guy in Lincolnshire beat the record for growing the hottest chilli – The Infinity, which is 1.17 million Scoville units (the scale for measuring the spicy heat of chillies) – but the Naga Viper is 1.3 million Scoville units. It's lethal."

The club isn't simply an excuse for a few friends to meet in the pub and eat hot chillies, washed down with pints of lager.

As a club, the founders want to share their knowledge about different varieties and species of chillies and their uses.

They also want to share growing tips with other chilli lovers and encourage the use of chillies in creating jams, chutneys and sauces.

Jim is taking it one step further by growing as many different varieties of chilli as possible on the outskirts of the city. "I have some land in north Bristol and I started to grow plants in polytunnels for our own use.

"We started to find different chilli varieties and before we knew it we were growing 40 different varieties. We hope to grow in excess of 500 plants this year.

"Through the club, we have come across some professional bodies who supply seeds and plants and The Upton Cheyney Chilli Farm sponsors us now. On Saturday, we have a number of professional chilli growers and experts visiting the club.

"As far as I'm aware, we are the only chilli club in the UK. Because of the chilli website forums and Twitter, it has gone global now and we have members in the US, Canada, Australia and Asia – it's incredible, especially as we're not a profit- making scheme, just a social club."

And it's not just a male thing, either: the club has female members and welcomes more.

"If anything, the girls can eat hotter chillies than the blokes," says Jim. "They're nuts!

"To begin with, it was a bit of a macho thing, like eating the hottest curry in the Indian restaurant, but we are genuinely interested in chillies and growing them.

"We get sent samples from all over the world now and people want us to sample them and video it for our YouTube website, although it's quite difficult to see from the video quite how much pain we go through."

Although the hottest chillies can be dangerous, there have been no reports of any serious chilli-eating injuries at the club's meetings.

"Some of the very hot ones can be very dangerous but apart from the occasional upset stomach, you just have to sit it out until it wears off, which can sometimes be more than an hour later."

For anybody who hasn't eaten a seriously hot chilli, how does Jim describe the experience?

"The immediate effect is on the mouth as your lips and tongue go numb. When it goes down your throat, it feels like it's gripping your head and your brain feels like it's going to explode.

"You go through quite a lot of pain but the natural endorphins that are released make you feel quite happy afterwards. They do call it a natural high, although some people think we're just a bunch of masochists."

And what do their wives and girlfriends think of them spending their time chomping throat-burning chillies?

"They think we're mental. If we go away for an event, our partners come with us but for events like the Saturday chilli club, they just let us get on with it. At least they know where we are."

Saturday's event promises to live up to its reputation as the "hottest" club in Bristol and the organisers expect a record turn-out from the city's chilli lovers.

As well as experts on hand to talk about growing chilli plants, there will also be a few to taste – "from mild to outrageously hot" – for those feeling up to the challenge.

For those who do attempt the fieriest chillies, Jim's advice is to drink plenty of liquid afterwards, although exactly what is down to the individual.

"Lager doesn't actually help and they say the best thing to ease the pain is a sugary milk solution or even ice cream," he says. "But that's a bit boring, so we stick to lager and cider."

You have been warned.

The Clifton Chilli Club takes place on Saturday, March 5, at The Coach and Horses, Highland Square, Clifton, Bristol, BS8 2YB. The event is free and starts at 7.30pm. For more information, go to www.cliftonchilliclub.co.uk.