Have you tried growing them there Shelby? NuMex Heritage 6-4: #41 may be a good one to try, it's bred for extra flavor, but there are others offered by the Chile Pepper Institute as well as other vendors.
If you want to remove the current seasoning and re-season, short of electrolysis, basic oven cleaner and the green scrotch-brite pads works well. Scouring powder also helps. I've done it that way many many times.
I agree, some of my favorite cookbooks have zero photos. If the writing is really good one can easily envision the final product. Helen Witty's "Fancy Pantry" is the type of book I'm talking about...very inspiring.
Embers can stay "alive" a long time when covered in ashes or the like....some primitive humans took advantage of that fact and carried around live embers from the previous campfire for prompt fire starting.
Emeril's is pretty good... Large and small: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/emeril-lagasse/creole-christmas-fruit-cake-with-whiskey-sauce-recipe.html http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/emeril-lagasse/mini-creole-christmas-fruitcakes-with-whiskey-sauce-recipe.html
In practical terms, I'd say you need to get at least half-way thru the green area on the gauge. 4 mil bags at the absolute minimum, IMHO...even they suck (no pun intended) in certain situations. The other day I sealed some tomatoes that I dried and just the rough edges of the the dried tomato were enough to cause failure in some of the bags.