I recently received a question regarding what a "fresh chipotle pepper" was.
This is my reply:

I may have the terminology wrong in the recipe, one that we have concocted ourselves. My take on a chipotle is just a smoked jalapeno. We smoke our own jalapenos and when they come off, they aren't completely dried. I suppose I could leave them on longer and they will dry out, but I prefer to not leave them on that long. I usually pull them all off the smoker at one time and divide them up, some go straight to the freezer and some go to the oven and finish drying, it makes it easier that way. Now we have frozen smoked jalapenos that can be used in recipes where we dice them, like a meatloaf. This is one of those recipes where we end up dicing the undried version. I never liked the idea of reconstituting a dried smoked jalapeno as I didn't want to lose any of that smokiness in the water. But what great juice that would make for something! We fully dry the rest of the jalapenos and grind up to make chipotle powder, what an awesome seasoning! We've been smoking our own jalapeños for a long time, long before they were available in our area, so this may be just our little way of doing things. :)