Smoke donut

I am trying to make a smoke donut (for lack of a better word).
like a plume of smoke shooting out in X&Y not so much in Z. In the middle there is no smoke (the donut hole)

I have tried sending smoke sprites out in x&y with a alpha over life, thinking I could cut the hole part out with a alpha over life, but it didnt work. Should this approach have worked?

Any ideas how i can achieve this.