I think she may be a little confused as to the difference between a Comet, a meteor and a meteorite.
A comet (or asteroid) is interstellar debris left over from the original formation of our planets and solar system (chuncks of ice and rock that were left over and didn't become part of the large planets or become moons)...think of it as the same thing as large fish eating smaller fish. Some fish are just to small for it to bother with...so the small fish gets away and swims around for a very long time.
Comets and asteroids are that way, until they get too close to a big fish (planet)...they fly around the solar system freely and we see comets because the Suns radiation and gravity pressure causes a tail to form from debris (smoke).
I've actually seen "smoke" for a very slight instant from a meteor entering the earths atmosphere. It was a clear night and the entry light of the meteor reflected back against the tailing smoke. I bet that was a one time thing! (It was the plaecides meteor shower aout 4 years ago).