Double Distillation?

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BayBoy

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Hello :)

I am in the process of distilling bay rum leaves. I'm using a medium of 2 parts pure grain alcohol to one part water. My understanding is that this is the best way to extract both the alcohol and water soluble components.

However I've also read about double distillation -- steeping the organic material first in alcohol, and then in water - a 2-stage process.

Is there an actual benefit to this? Perhaps it speeds up the process? Or does it produce basically the same result?
 
This question actually originates from an email I sent to Mountain Rose Herbs. I asked them if their witch hazel was organic. They wrote:

All of our Witch Hazel products are Certified Organic. Our Witch Hazel Extract is created by steeping witch hazel bark and twigs in organic alcohol, and then water, to extract the constituents for use as a body care product. This distillation is called a double distillation, and the resulting product will contain much less alcohol than conventional witch hazel extracts found at the supermarket.

I was surprised by their use of the word distillation as well. Perhaps the person meant to say extraction. In which case YES, I would replace distillation with extraction in my post! ;)
 

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