Kumquats: The Peyote of Citrus Fruit?

First, I have to say that I have not taken peyote. But I did see The Doors three times in the theatre when I was in junior high, so... Anyway, I tried kumquats for the first time while my in-laws were in town this past weekend, and, well, have you tried these?!? My reaction after eating the first one was that it was like walking over coals. Eating kumquats is not for the faint of heart. I mean, almost blacking-out isn't normal, right?
They look like oval-shaped mini-oranges, about the size of a large grape. You pop the whole thing in your mouth, skin and all. The skin is intensely tart and bitter, but it is immediately countered by the incredibly sweet flesh of the kumquat. For a split second, when I eat one, I'm so totally overcome by the sensation, that I can focus on nothing but enduring. This extreme fluctuation lasts less than twenty seconds, however long it takes to chew the kumquat. And despite eating about a dozen of these, the experience ambushed me every time. It's not entirely pleasant, and yet, I think I like them. We must've made quite the sight: the grimacing, the puckered faces, the doubling-over... only to do it again and again. I don't have the steel taste buds to eat ultra-spicy food. I used to think people perverse who torture themselves with ultra-spicy food, who sweat, whose faces are at once shriveled and contorted with the rapture of the pain. Who claim, "No, it's delicious!" despite a redness to their face, and their body's attempt to douse the fire in their mouth with all sorts of fluid--tears, running nose, extreme salivation. "Why are they doing this to themselves?" I would always ask. Little Kumquat, you have solved that mystery for me.