Home Distiller

i recently had the chance of talking to a guy that works in a rum distillery in a little town near mine, it's not a big one but they make a fairly good rum, i asked what they used for packing, and he said that they buy used barrels wich had been used for aging whisky and that they had to make chips out of them then toast the chips and fill the column with this, the column is about 40 cm in diameter and 2 meters tall,

Wouldn't it be like a giant sponge that stole alot of your product?

i guess but since it was a continuos still, the wood absorbs all it can hold and then the liquid inside the wood heats, if it works this way i think it might do the job, and at the same time give some flavour to the product

They have obviously lost their marbles.