why our thermal mass design has a gap between the barrel and the cob hat

I was just thinking as I watched this that this might be another huge benefit of the new shorty designs, you don't need the gap for any mass placed on top of the barrel. With the exhaust exiting horizontally from the riser, the temps will never get too hot on the steel. I love the look of the cob hat and the extra mass is great, but I like to keep the removable lids--though the only times I've removed the lid is to show people what the inside looks like and once to get an unfortunate bird out that had flown down the chimney and made it through 20+ feet of horizontal pipe to the barrel.

Great video as always.