Pendery's World of Chiles & Spices does an awesome mail-order business from their warehouse location in Dallas. If the reader can't make it to their Fort Worth retail stores, then definitely go to their website at:
http://www.penderys.com/
and download a PDF version of their catalog.
And what a catalog it is. It has something for everyone. They offer an astounding array of cooking and serving utensils. They have 12 pages of spices and herbs excluding chiles, and 6 pages of ground chiles, blends, chili powders & chili mixes, and dried whole pods.
Some of my favorites are: Tellicherry black pepper from Sri Lanka- not your ordinary table pepper, it is richer, more floral, and much less bitter than typical black pepper from the grocery store, and they grind it right before they ship it, Chimayo, Guajillo, Pasillo Negro, Cascabel, Chihuacle- all chiles used in making my chili stew, Pico de Pajaro- a sweet hot bird pepper with plum tones and less tannic than Chile de Arbol or Tabasco peppers, Tepin pods- aka Chile Petine, the closest living variety to the original ancestor to all chiles, has a dry bright flavor thats much livelier & hotter than the common cousin, Chile Piquin, Rocotillo- a close cousin to Habanero & Scotch Bonnet with less apricot & more berry tones, but much less piquant.
Gift ideas abound, too. Check out the spice jars, pepper grinders, mortar & pestles/molcajetes, tortilla presses, chile-inspired serving plates/bowls, teapots, curious aprons & oven mitts, unique S & P shakers, dozens of cookbooks from cuisines around the world, hot sauces & dipping salsas, and even Christmas lights with strings of themed light covers like peppers, fish, pigs, grills, cacti, Tabasco bottles, and lots of little trinkets for the kitchen or tabletop. read more