I burned exclusively pine (Monterey Pine) for several years; burning a mix of pine and eucalyptus (another wood of many old wive's tales) this year. In a previous life I was fortunate to burn eastern hardwoods.
Pine splits easily and dries fast, two points in its favor in my book. Around here it is cheap (trees blow down every winter) and in many places it's the only tree.
Pine does burn with a yellower, sootier flame that is more likely to smudge the glass and that leaves fluffy black soot in the flue. If burned dry I have never seen it make glazed or crusty creosote deposits.
A couple of things I have found that help when burning pine
1) When splitting, watch for pitch deposits on the bark (like crystalized brown sugar) and also learn to recognize pitch-saturated wood -- it has more of a marbled or zebra appearance. Pitch burns as easily as oily rags, and about as cleanly. Split these pieces down small and use 'em for kindling... you can practically light them with a match.
2) Keep track of the pine and use it when you want a hot fast fire, like when starting up cold or re-starting from coals.
3) Control heat output by the size of splits you feed... give pine a decent amount of air especially during the flaming phase of the burn. Don't stuff the stove full of pine and stop down the air to stretch the burn unless you have to.
4) Mix pine with hardwood when burning. I put a pine split at the back of the stove and a hardwood split in front... the reward is a firebox full of clean flame in every color of the rainbow, a long stable burn that eats up all the charcoal, and... I think I've forgotten where my glass cleaner is this year.
If someone was offering you pine and oak at equal $$ per pound I'd go for the oak, but if you are looking at a down tree in your yard, there's no reason at all not to burn the pine. Just pay attention to what you're doing and I don't think you'll have any problems. Plus you'll prove the naysayers wrong while saving yourself a bunch of money, always a nice combo in my book...
Eddy
