I did not hear of dropping of smoke markers for such purposes until I joined a UK Based Helicopter operator which incorporated many such British Military practices into its flying procedures.....and we were. issued smoke grenades for that purpose.
I never did do that as I had learned how to assess wind conditions during an airborne pretending check that included both power required and available along with figuring out the wind along with other issues.
Dropping a smoke grenade works...but also has the risk of starting a wildfire in the process that has to be reckoned with during the decision to drop the smoke or not.
A senior company check pilot set fire to an airfield using that method or a Flare fired from the aircraft as part of a training flight thus we learned to be very careful about using the smoke grenades.