Coughing causes

I've been coughing for over a week now and it is not very pleasant. At lunch the other day at Henrys I was coughing away and said to Katrina that I might go to the doctor. As we were leaving an old guy from a table nearby came over and mentioned that he had heard me coughing. He told me that it was nothing to worry about as it was just due to the pine needles! Pine needles??? Is this true? On the other hand the internet (a reliable source of truth) claims that pine needle oil is used in cough medicines. Can someone please bust/confirm this myth?