. . by visiting dignitaries from the plains states and other inland regions.

The general procedure here is to pull some hot coals from the fire (with your fingers if you've got the balls, muscular coordination and experience to know where to grab them) and place them in a large abalone shell. The sage is then piled over and fanned with a hawk wing or whatever you have. The smoke is spread about the premises accompanied by prayers, chanting, drumming or whatever combination works for you.

Of course large abalone shells are hard to get in most places and hawk wings are illegal except for Indians** - and even then are supposed to be certified as natural kill (power line maintenance crews sometimes find freshly killed eagles and hawks and turn them over to local tribes). All is not lost because other natural items can be used.

Note that sweet grass, native to both North America and Eurasia (north of Switzerland), was used on the doorsteps of European churches long before the discovery of America.

** Indians. I've dropped the "Native American" tag on advice. When the film Pocahontas was being made the crew employed a well known cultural figure as a consultant. When asked if they were doing anything that would be particularly offensive to his community he answered, "No, except stop calling us 'Native Americans'. We're Indians". My source here is an interview on KUSC of the guy who wrote the score for the film.