There are several ways to get good chipotles but no matter what you need to start with good, ripe jalapeño peppers. Choose jalapeños that are firm without any soft spots. They should have a good, bright red color and have their stems shouldn't be loose (an indication that they were picked too long ago). The fresher the peppers the better.
One word of warning. No matter how you go about making chipotles you are going to be handling chili peppers a great deal. This means you need to be very careful when touching anything sensitive, like your eyes. I fully recommend that you get some disposable food handling gloves before you start this project.
