Origin of "chipotle"

[Jim Rader]

Anyone on the list with insights on the Nahuatl background of this
word?

According to Santamaria's _Diccionario de mejicanismos_, <chipotle>
is a variant of <chilpotle> (also <chilpocle> and <chilpote>), "del
mexicano <chilli>, pimiento, y <poctli>, humo."  This looks pretty
unobjectionable, though I can't find <chilpoctli> in F. Karttunen's
dictionary or any of the other very limited lexical sources on
Nahuatl I have at hand.  Also, wouldn't one expect the head of the
construction to be <chilli>, i.e, <pocchilli> [??] or <pochilli>,
since "smoke" is in effect the modifier?  Or are there a lot of
exceptions to this constituent order in Nahuatl?

I also have in my notes <xipotli> as the Nahuatl etymon of
<chipotle>, but unfortunately I no longer have the source of this
etymology.

Any ideas from listeros would be appreciated.

Jim Rader
Etymology Editor
Merriam-Webster, Inc.