Elliptical inline head

[Professor Duck]

I want to eventually make a fractioning still and I want to go with an inline head, for simplicity and to save money on fittings. The only design I've seen has a return line just before the needle valve. What I was thinking is: why not just have it drip straight off the bottom plate back onto the packing? If you made the plate a bit shallower and had it curve downwards at the end, with a pointy bit to make the reflux fall on the middle of the packing, I think it would work OK.

Here's a diagram: