I've got to ask: are you talking about this living in a day pack, or are you talking about carrying it in your multi-day pack to use for the cup of tea, etc., during the hiking day - and then breaking out your "real" stove to cook meals with?

If it's the only stove you're carrying for day hikes, it makes perfect sense, and might be a really great choice (I've seen the Esbit integrated-pot-and-stove cooker that came out this year, and it looked like it might be really useful for dayhike use.)

If you're carrying two stoves, I'd suggest dispensing with the Esbit stove altogether; if you can stop for 15 or 20 minutes to brew up a cuppa, can't you stop for 17 or 22 and just dig out your regular stove? (Surely two minutes would be enough to dig it out and pack it away, and I doubt you're timing things so closely that getting to camp two minutes later will make any critical difference.)

I could see that you might not want to fiddle with a white gas stove for those short stops, but a canister stove wouldn't seem like that much of a hassle.

I'm really not trying to be argumentative, and no way am I trying to say you're doing it wrong. I'm just a little confused about how you're using it.