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Counter flow is best for condensers. The air pocket at the top of one isnt a fantastic thing, but there are ways to prevent it with plumbing or design. IMHO it is preferable to the following:

A Defleg/RC that is not counter flow can over cool the reflux, potentially enough to make it all the way back to the boiler before getting reboiled in a tray or packing, causing the column to have an unstable equilibrium and thereby significantly reduce efficiency and separation.

Makes sense, maybe I just misread.. I guess I was under the impression that a dephlegmator was a jacketed condenser and water just goes in the bottom and out the top... I still don't get the importance of "if one were to loose water flow, the condenser will not go dry"?? If one loses cooling water flow, is the session not immediately terminated?

Yes, it should be, but may not be immediately noticed. Keeping the condenser full allows a little bit of buffer while it heats up. Or at least that's what I see as the benefit.

That said, that stampede still is a hot mess of sure, you can string things together like that, but why in the world would you? The thumpers don't do anything that a much smaller amount of extra column wouldn't, the lyne arms are tiny, and control seems to be all over the place. Sorry to shit on it. I'm sure it can make likker, and I guess it may have some kind of aesthetic charm to some people. But I really think it's a case of someone who can work (and sell) copper better than they can design a still.

Way I read it, they didn't design it like that. The customer special ordered it like that.