So . . . Pook is moonlighting as a chimney sweep in the Boston area now?
Sorry . . . couldn't help myself.
To give a serious answer . . . or to reiterate what has already been said.
Technically, this is a very old school way of thinking . . . and I'm talking really, really old school . . . I've heard of old-timers who used to stuff hay in their chimney and touch it off . . . the idea being it would burn off the creosote. Burning a very hot fire daily is a little more "progressive" . . . the idea being you would get the temps high enough to cook off the creosote. The problem with both of these ideas is a) it could potentially damage your chimney, b) if your chimney has a cracked liner say this small chimney fire could lead to a major house fire and c) my experience has been that there is a much easier and better way of fixing this problem instead of cutting up a bunch of banana boxes and touching it off . . .
Rather than trying to fix the problem after the fact . . . by burning off the creosote, it is far, far easier and better to follow the three step process . . .
1. Burn dry wood . . . and by dry I mean well-seasoned wood . . . wood that has been cut, split and stacked for a year or so . . . or has a 20% or so moisture content . . . me I'm cheap (and easy) so I tend to just split, stack and wait for a year before burning . . . much easier for me and no need to buy a moisture meter.
2. Burn in the Goldilocks Zone . . . you burn too hot you risk damaging the chimney and igniting any creosote in the chimney, burn too cool and you produce creosote and all your neighbors will see the smoke coming out of your chimney so you can't be a Woodburning Stealth Ninja like me . . . and in case you were thinking "yeah, I burn pretty hot" . . . no good . . . you really need a thermometer or two to see if your idea of "pretty hot" is in fact hot . . . or cool.
3. Follow the first two steps and you should be golden . . . little to no creosote will be in the chimney . . . and you can take all those Fruit Loop, Sugar Smacks and Lucky Charm cardboard cereal boxes and recycle them instead of trying to make a bonfire in your woodstove . . . and doesn't it feel great to save the planet . . . I will be sending you the Planet Captain/Al Gore secret decoder ring in the mail . . . however I am a firm believer in always checking . . . and double checking . . . and so I encourage folks to check and clean their chimney. I check my chimney monthly . . . which is good for the newbie . . . once you get a feel for how you're burning you may wait a little longer before checking . . . although being the anal retentive sort of guy that I am (well that and the fact it would be really, really embarassing for me to have a chimney fire and I would be ridiculed to no end by my co-workers) I check it every month. For me it's a quick, easy procedure to check it . . . the only thing simpler for me is to clean out the the chimney . . . which gives me a clean creosote-free chimney and peace of mind.