Decades ago I was at the Visitors Center for the Western band of Cherokee and this woman was giving a talk next to a campfire, and the wind kept shifting. She kept moving and finally coughed and then apologized for the smoke blowing in everyone’s faces.

There was another guy there who was clearly hitting on her, and he said, “they say smoke follows beauty.” With comedic timing the wind shifted and blew the smoke towards him, and she, quick as lightning, said, “Smoke follows wind.”

(And in case you don’t know, in American English when someone is “windy” they talk a lot and don’t say much)

I’ve always heard “smoke follows ugly”.

That explains why when you’re alone by the fire, but it doesn’t explain why there’s always one unlucky bastard when it’s a large group. There’s plenty of bodies so it’s not just air pressure pulling the smoke. It’s fate that someone must be the sacrificial smoked lamb.