Esse Cigarette Flavours: Every Variant Sold in Australia and Which One Suits You

Esse cigarettes come in five flavours in Australia, all super slims made by KT&G in South Korea: one unflavoured tobacco flavour, one menthol, and three capsule flavours that release apple mint when you crush the capsule. Esse Light Super Slim is the soft, unflavoured cigarette, and Esse Menthol carries a crisp menthol from the first draw. Esse Change adds apple mint on the click, while Esse Change Double Apple Mint Orange and Esse Change Double Apple Mint Wine add a second capsule with an orange or a wine note. All five share the super slim format, so the flavour sets them apart.

The Esse Change capsule is apple mint, a fruit-and-mint flavour, not menthol. Each review below gives the strength, the flavour profile, the smoker it suits and our verdict, and the guide at the end matches your palate to a flavour. Aussie Smokes stocks all five, verifies the age of every customer and ships Australia-wide from stock held in Australia.

The 5 Esse Flavours

The five reviews run by family: tobacco first, then menthol, then the single-capsule cigarette and the two double-capsule cigarettes. Each review opens with three labels. Strength grades taste intensity with the printed figures beside it: the 4.5 mg and 5 mg sticks are Soft, the 4 mg sticks are Extra soft, and the capsule cigarettes add flavour on demand. Flavour Profile sums up the taste in one line, and Best For names the smoker it suits. A description and our verdict follow.

1. Esse Light Super Slim: soft, unflavoured tobacco

• Strength: Soft (4.5 mg tar, 0.45 mg nicotine)
• Flavour Profile: Soft, unflavoured tobacco with a delicate aroma and a faint sweetness
• Best For: Super slim smokers who want tobacco with nothing added

Esse Light Super Slim is a soft, unflavoured super slim cigarette with a delicate tobacco aroma and a faint sweetness, the only Esse sold in Australia with no menthol and no capsule. It draws softly, with a silky mouthfeel, a subtle flavour and very little harshness on the throat. Light in the name is the variant name printed on the pack, not a description of the cigarette. The ACCC found in 2005 that using the word as a descriptor misled buyers, and manufacturers gave undertakings to drop it.

Esse Light Super Slim has the super slim format of the other four with nothing layered on top, for a smoker who wants that draw for its own sake.

Our Verdict: We recommend Esse Light Super Slim to a super slim smoker who wants plain, soft tobacco flavour.

2. Esse Menthol: crisp menthol from the first draw

• Strength: Soft (5 mg tar, 0.5 mg nicotine)
• Flavour Profile: Crisp, minty cooling over a soft tobacco base, constant from start to finish
• Best For: Menthol smokers who want the cooling the whole way without crushing anything

Esse Menthol is a soft menthol super slim cigarette with a crisp, minty cooling from the first draw to the last, the only Esse sold in Australia that is mentholated throughout. The cooling is noticeable but not harsh, and it sits on subtle tobacco undertones instead of a deep tobacco flavour, with a fresh, minty finish.

Esse Menthol is often compared with Esse Change, but it cools from the first draw and stays the same to the filter end. Esse Change smokes as plain tobacco until the click and then releases apple mint. Esse Menthol suits a smoker who wants a straightforward menthol with no surprises, and Esse Change suits one who wants the flavour to shift partway through the cigarette.

Our Verdict: Pick Esse Menthol if you want menthol from the first draw without deciding when to crush a capsule.

3. Esse Change: tobacco first, apple mint on the click

• Strength: Extra soft, flavour on demand (4 mg tar, 0.3 mg nicotine)
• Flavour Profile: Smooth tobacco taste that switches to apple mint when the capsule is crushed
• Best For: Smokers who want one cigarette that can be plain or flavoured

Esse Change is a super slim capsule cigarette with a smooth tobacco taste that switches to apple mint when you crush the capsule. KT&G launched it in 2013 as the world’s first super slim capsule cigarette. Uncrushed, it smokes as a smooth tobacco, and the crushed capsule changes that taste into a fresh apple mint with a cool edge from the mint.

Esse Change carries a single capsule, and its flavour is apple mint, not menthol. The Esse Change sold in Australia is the 4 mg version, which KT&G added in October 2013 after the original 1 mg release.

Our Verdict: Start with Esse Change if you want a super slim that can be plain tobacco or apple mint in the same cigarette.

4. Esse Change Double Apple Mint Orange: apple mint, then orange

• Strength: Extra soft, flavour on demand (4 mg tar)
• Flavour Profile: Crisp apple and cool mint, with a citrus orange finish from the second capsule
• Best For: Capsule smokers who want a fruit note beside the mint

Esse Change Double Apple Mint Orange is a super slim cigarette with two capsules in the filter, apple mint in one and orange in the other, so the flavour changes in two steps. The taste is crisp apple and cooling mint with a subtle citrus orange finish. You can keep the plain tobacco taste, release one capsule, or crush both.

Crushing both capsules layers the zesty orange over the apple mint for a more vibrant, aromatic mix.

Our Verdict: Esse Change Double Apple Mint Orange suits a capsule smoker who wants citrus alongside the apple mint.

5. Esse Change Double Apple Mint Wine: apple mint, then wine

• Strength: Extra soft, flavour on demand (4 mg tar)
• Flavour Profile: Crisp apple and cool mint, with a subtle wine note from the second capsule
• Best For: Capsule smokers who want a wine note beside the mint

Esse Change Double Apple Mint Wine is a super slim cigarette with two capsules in the filter, apple mint in the first and a wine note in the second. It layers crisp apple and cool mint with a subtle wine-like note. The first click releases apple mint, and the second releases the wine aroma.

Orange or Wine is the one real choice between the two Change Double cigarettes. Both keep the same apple mint first capsule, so the second note settles it: bright citrus in one, a wine note in the other.

Our Verdict: Choose Esse Change Double Apple Mint Wine if you want a wine note alongside the apple mint.

How to Find the Esse Flavour That Suits You?

You choose an Esse flavour by weighing four attributes of the range, tar and nicotine, throat feel, aroma and format, and then testing one cigarette before you buy a carton. Each point below explains what the attribute changes when you smoke and which Esse it points you to.

Place yourself by tar and nicotine, then choose on taste

The five Esse flavours sit in a narrow band of 4 to 5 mg tar, so the printed figures tell you where Esse sits against your current brand, and the taste tells you which Esse to pick. Esse Menthol (5 mg) and Esse Light Super Slim (4.5 mg) sit at the fuller end of the range, and the three Esse Change cigarettes (4 mg) sit at the softer end. A smoker moving from a full-flavour king size adjusts more easily to the fuller end, and a smoker already on a super slim can start anywhere in the range.

Decide on throat feel before flavour

Cooling registers on the throat from the first draw, so the throat feel you want narrows the choice faster than the flavour name. A smoker who dislikes a cold throat has one option, Esse Light Super Slim, the only Esse with no menthol and no mint. A smoker who wants cooling on every draw takes Esse Menthol. A smoker who wants to decide when the cooling arrives takes an Esse Change. The orange and wine names can be misleading here: both Change Double cigarettes carry an apple mint capsule, so both cool the throat once it is crushed.

Choose by the aroma you enjoy, not to hide the smell

None of the five Esse flavours sold in Australia is made to reduce smell. KT&G builds its smell-reducing technology into other products, such as Esse Change Himalaya, launched in South Korea in April 2019, and Esse Himalaya Winter, launched in May 2024. Neither is stocked by the Australian retailers we checked. The Esse flavours sold here change the aroma of the smoke while you smoke: Esse Light Super Slim keeps a plain tobacco aroma, Esse Menthol adds a minty one, and the capsules add apple mint, orange or wine. A smoker whose main concern is smell on the breath or clothes will not solve it with any Esse sold here, so the aroma you enjoy is the better guide.

Decide how much control you want over the filter

Every Esse sold here is super slim, so the stick itself is not a choice; the filter is. A filter with no capsule makes every cigarette taste the same from the first draw to the last, which suits a smoker who wants consistency and takes Esse Light Super Slim or Esse Menthol. One capsule adds a single decision per cigarette, to crush or not, which is Esse Change. Two capsules add a second decision and a second flavour, which is the Change Double pair, and it rewards a smoker who enjoys adjusting the taste as they go. The super slim stick also produces a thinner smoke than a king size, so a king-size smoker should expect less smoke in each puff whichever filter they choose.

Test with Esse Change before you commit to a carton

Esse is sold here by the carton of 10 packs, so the wrong flavour costs a full carton. Esse Change is the quickest way to learn your preference because one cigarette gives you both the plain tobacco and the capsule flavour. Smoke the first half uncrushed to judge the tobacco base, then crush the capsule for the second half, and decide from the result:

• Preferred the uncrushed half: move to Esse Light Super Slim for plain tobacco the whole way.
• Liked the cooling but wanted it from the first draw: move to Esse Menthol.
• Liked the apple mint and wanted more: move to a Change Double, and crush the apple mint capsule a few draws before the second so you taste each note on its own.

Give any new flavour several cigarettes before you judge it against your usual brand.

Capsule smokers comparing brands can read our review of the Manchester flavour range, which covers three capsule flavours of its own.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who makes Esse cigarettes?

KT&G, the Korea Tobacco & Ginseng Corporation, makes Esse in South Korea and launched the brand in 1996. Esse is a Korean cigarette brand and KT&G’s flagship global brand, sold in more than 90 countries, and it accounts for about one-third of super slim cigarette sales worldwide.

Which Esse flavours are sold overseas but not in Australia?

Esse Blue, Esse Himalaya and Esse Double Shot are part of KT&G’s 2026 global line-up but are not stocked by the Australian retailers we checked, Aussie Smokes included. The five flavours reviewed above make up the Esse range sold by those retailers.

Does crushing the capsule change the tar and nicotine?

No, the printed tar and nicotine stay the same, because they are measured on the cigarette whether or not the capsule is crushed. The capsule changes the flavour, not the figures on the pack.