Yes, Pepper.
Yes, taste. If you will chew them you will have a strong pepper taste in your mouth. The less of a pepper taste the less they are dosed. If there in not a pepper taste than I would assume they are fake. I tasted the original A-Bombs back before they were discontinued (even though they are back now) and they had a very strong pepper taste. Since then I have never had that strong of a taste on any of the others. And none seem to be as effective as the original american version.