the vast majority of stills are heated with an open flame. as to the legality of selling stills its perfectly legal. like selling bongs; they are for display only. in canada you can sell bongs and crack pipes openly and to anyone but need a license for rolling papers as thats considered a tobacco product. but a moonshine still can also be a water distiller. although some designs in canada are
illegal to assemble or use it is a big and vast grey area. i have made it kinda a mission to teach some of my friends who's prior income was off one narcotic or another to make shine. all the fun with almost no risk of jail. in modern memory i cant think of a single moonshiner i know in canada who has had any trouble with the law over a still or a few gallons of shine. in fact i have a farmer who i get some shine to every here and there and he takes it to his mason lodge. i have some friends in bc who i taught this craft who sell it to alcoholics after hours so they dont drink listerine and lysol. considers it a good deed to make sure they can get something fit for human consumption at a more than fair price, anytime. often for buttons and a smile.
and the copper stills that this company makes are of a high quality. they even made the still for the dukes of hazzard movie.
http://www.coppermoonshinestills.com/index.html good still, terrible movie.
if only thier quality of law matched their quality of still. in both canada and the states you can get a permit for a still to make your own fuel. easier in most states than in canada. if it was easier i would get the permit but really wheres the fun in that? lol
sovcits and preppers, craft brewers and rich folks all enjoy making shine. theres a zillion companies making stills for the canadian and u.s. market. the tv show made it a household thing to do. and with that diverse a crowd of do it yourselfers theres bound to be some legal crazies involved. i find some of the stuff fascinating. these people i linked to for example cant possibly follow what that legal gibberish says or they could not run a profitable business. must just sound cool on a moonshiners site and attract the sovcit crowd. you would think they would save their money better and build there own from scratch. one friend i taught in vancouver made his still for under 50 bucks out of thrift stores and kijiji. its simple once you catch on it aint rocket science.
peace,
ninj