There are default materials that look like black wood, there is a glowing cigar tip and a set of other glowing materials (Vue 5 or 6 Infinite). With some playing around, you should be able to get some good modified materials together in the Material Editor. Knowing how to use the Function Editor helps a lot, if you have it in your version of Vue.

Monsoon over at 3D Commune (Vue mod) has done some great work with crossed alphamaps/billboards for fire, smoke and rocket exhausts.  I think he has free tutorials and maybe materials.