In the book "The Compleat Distiller", by Nixon, your kind of still is considered.
Nixon calls it a "fractionating still". It's a modified pot still which has a packed column, no forced reflux, and a normal liquid-cooled final condenser.
According to Nixon, such a still can actually be made to reflux quite a lot, provided that the temperature applied to the system is carefully chosen.
You find a description of such a still at pag. 37 - 38
In particular:
"In a 1 meter (just over a yard) fractionating column filled with high-efficiency packing, hundreds or
even thousands of condensation and re-evaporation cycles take place. This is equivalent to re-distilling
dozens of times with a pot still. The net result is a product with a very high percentage of volatiles
indeed, even up to 90%. The key limitation of a fractionating column is that the vapor flow must be
slow enough for the fractionating process to work efficiently. In a fractionating still, the relationship
between fractionating column capacity and boiler energy input is critical."
Pag. 53
"There is considerable leeway in the operation of a fractionating
column, but remember that the more slowly the vapor rises up
the column, the more efficient the fractionating process will be.
We have found that it works best to limit the heater element to no
more than 1 kW for a 50mm (2 inch) column."
But he also says that such for such a still "the slower, the better", which is unsurprising as you have to let air to the job which water would do much more effectively.
In your case, that would mean probably governing your still, once you reach evaporation, at less than 250 W or less
(the diameter is 1/2 of the diameter considered by Nixon, so the section is around 1/4, 250W would be the "limit" indicated by Nixon for your still I suppose, but "the slower the better", so you can use it at much less than that, very slowly!).
I hope you like Opera, especially long operas, try Wagner while you distill
Maybe you could try some wet rag on the top of the column, as a work-around, to be constantly renovated.
Ultimately it can be done, but at an excruciatingly low speed and I wonder, besides the cultural-academic interest, what's the point of such a still for normal production. After the first two runs, you'll want to add a water-cooled dephlegmator. You already have to have water for the final condenser after all.
The only practical use for such a still IMHO would be using a very long air-cooled spiral final condenser, so that the entire still can be operated without any need of water.
