the perforated plate or flute has a sort of reflux action that you get when it comes down from the top plate. Flutes are nice but a bit pricey for me. Heck for whiskeys a slow run pot still leaves most of the flavor in. If you reflux you are taking the flavor out and making a neutral. Just depends on what you want. Hope that helps out.

Well to answer this question takes a lot of theory and studies on plates versus theoretical plates but the answer is the basis for all stills and how they work. First a perforated plate column is nothing more than a copy of a commercial still reduced in size for the hobby level. It usually has 3 to 5 plates inside for handling the reflux action of the still. These are known as real or physical plates. Packed columns of various length's and width's usually use theoretical plates in the form of some kind of structured packing, i.e.
copper mesh or scrubbers, stainless steel scrubbers, or now a days lava rock or the new SPP.

In theory it takes 12 to 15 plates to reach azeotrope or 96.5% ABV when distilling. The highest purity that you can possibly reach or the cleanest product per se is using 40 plates. But you can still only get 96.5% ABV. So if the plated column only has 4 or 5 plates you can get 90 to 92 % ABV but it will contain heavy flavor. A 2" column 36" tall packed with copper mesh or stainless scrubbies has 8 or 9 theoretical plates and can achieve up to 95% ABV. So the packed column is better for making close to neutrals or vodka and the plated column is better for flavored drinks, i.e. whiskeys and rums. A standard pot still is said to have the equivalence of between 1 1/2 and 2 plates. That is why it is said a pot still is good for flavor and not neutrals.

A lot of folks don't like the heavy flavor associated with pot stills so that is why they usually do stripping runs and then spirit runs or 2 or 3 runs to help lighten the flavor. Hopefully this helps understand that your personal taste really has a lot to do with what type still would suite you best. Each still has a product that it makes best and most stills can be configured differently (more like a hybrid) to make several different types of flavors. I would have a real concern personally of a still builder that could not explain basic theory and what a still is capable of. Hope this simple explanation helps there is way to much theory involved to put in one post in one thread.