Why and when did it become "a thing" to blow the smoke from your gun barrel after shooting someone/something?

by Beetlejuiceisking

Also, why did it fade out of existence besides in old westers basically?

laurenalydar

The answer to your second question is that guns that emit enough smoke to pull off this cheeky maneuver aren’t prevalent. There were developments in firearm technology after that that eliminated that smoke and you don’t see that volume of smoke with the guns commonly used today.