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Ex-smoke salesman slams nicotine `manipulation' 

When Joseph Battaglia started smoking Matinee Extra Milds in 1994, he thought the low tar and nicotine levels stated on their packs would help him quit, yet he was pleased they seemed to answer his nicotine cravings.

``They gave me a satisfaction. They surprised me,'' he testified yesterday.

But the former cigarette salesman said he was furious when he found out a few years later the toxin levels he was inhaling were likely much higher.

``They were manipulating the nicotine levels,'' he testified, calling it ``a manipulation of my addiction.''

In a trial closely watched by the tobacco industry and anti-smoking groups, Battaglia, 59, is suing Imperial Tobacco Canada Ltd. for $6,000 in damages in small claims court, alleging the company designed a cigarette with minuscule holes on the side to give a false low reading in tests.

``It's the cigarette of the guy who wants to quit. That's why it's so successful,'' the Toronto paralegal said.

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