“He gathered the huge pine-cones from the branches of the tree. Then he set one alight with a bright blue fire, and threw it whizzing down among the circle of the wolves. It struck one on the back, and immediately his shaggy coat caught fire, and he was leaping to and fro yelping horribly. Then another came and another, one in blue flames, one in red, another in green. They burst upon the ground in the middle of the circle and went off in colored sparks and smoke. A specially large one hit the chief wolf on the nose, and he leaped in the air ten feet, and then rushed round and round the circle biting and snapping even at the other wolves in his anger and fright.” - The Hobbit
Main Suggestion
I propose that pinecones be added as a block and item. The purpose would be realism, roleplay, and decoration. It would just simply be fun. They are mentioned in lore, and we already have pine trees, so it is a logical addition.
Specifics
Pinecones would be a unique item with a variety of uses. Pine cones will from now on occasionally drop as an item from pine trees like conkers, perhaps a little more frequently. They can also be obtained by breaking pine tree leaves.
Spruce and fir trees are not technically pines, but they are conifers, so perhaps they would drop cones as well. To simplify things maybe they could all drop pinecones, or they could each have separate cones, but that would be unnecessarily complex.
Item Mechanics
Pinecones can be thrown like conkers. They would only do 1/4 HP of damage, and small knockback, making them much less dangerous. It would be cool if they could be shot out of the air with arrows or hit out of the air with melee weapons on a direct hit. Damage from pinecones is affected by armour, unlike conkers. However, there is a way to make them more useful: fire.
Clicking a block of fire will set the pinecone on fire. This can be fire on a hearth block, lava, or a beacon of Gondor. If you right-click the pinecone with flames from Khamûl's Fire it will catch a blue flame.
Once lit on fire the pinecone will disappear from the player’s inventory in five seconds unless thrown. If the player attempts to put it in a chest or other block’s inventory such as a dispenser, it will disappear immediately.
The flaming pinecone can then be thrown at enemies. On a direct hit it will set the enemy on fire (Only a direct hit, so as not to replace fire-pots). The fire will only do 2 () damage, making it less deadly than fire-pots (unless it is lit from Khamûl’s fire, in which case it will do 5 () damage). Thrown pinecones are recoverable, but thrown burning pinecones are not.
Unfortunately it is not always a good idea to play with fire. Upon lighting the pinecone the player will receive 1 () damage, and another 1 () damage one second later. One second after that the player will catch on fire and keep burning until the pinecone disappears or is thrown away.
Additional Embellishment
Pine tree leaf blocks will now have a new texture. It will look exactly the same except appear to have several pinecones, similar to a berry bush. Most pine tree leaf blocks will be free of pinecones, but depending on coordinates (like coral) a few leaf blocks in every tree will appear to have pinecones. All leaf blocks will have the exact same chance to drop a pinecone when broken. Collecting both types of leaves will yield the same block, but when placed they will have a chance of displaying pinecones or not.
Here is my idea for a pinecone texture.
Please let me know if you think this would be a fun addition or not, and if you have any other ideas for pinecones. Kudos and constructive criticism are both appreciated.
EDIT: Possible controls to throw/place.
EDIT: Spruce/Fir cone discussion.
EDIT: Hobbits also try not to step on pinecones.
EDIT: Due to the comments of various users, I have decided to remove the pinecone block.
EDIT: Added texture.