"Some use tails but Ive not heard of any that use heads....if its your first run where will the extra stuff (or tails) come from??? Well just use water and then after that use tails that you collected from the run and add as much water to it as needed to make up the volume of tails you need.
And no you dont need to heat it cause the steam that passes through it will heat it on its own, remember that your thumper will continue to fill because the steam will be condensed in the thumper as well and it will leave behind other stuff in the liquid too.
As the thumper comes up to temp then it will vaporize the liquid in the thumper and continue on its way to the condenser. Very simple idea but very unnessecary tool. IMHO!"

Not really....alcohol in the thumper dosen't make higher proof alcohol in the collection. The thumper idea is like a second distillation, but not quite as complete. Again if you dont use a thumper and just double distill you would get a higher proof likker because you are collectiong a more CONCENTRATED product, you are leaving more water behind. So the idea behind a thumper is to get the same thing with only one pass but it's not quite the same, but thats the theory. If you use a great wash and run your still on the slower side and make really good cuts - you dont need a thumper at all, IMHO.