I was taking a walk through my neighborhood with a friend yesterday. We were doing our usual “cigar walk,” during which we smoke cigars and stroll along the streets of Greenwich Village.

We have convinced ourselves that walking, even at our relaxed pace, counts as aerobic activity, which means that by walking and smoking at the same time, our bodies are reducing the elevated number of C-reactive proteins in our blood caused by smoking in the first place. According to the way we figure it, as long as we walk and smoke at the same time, it’s like we’re not even smoking at all.