[baggachipz]

Extract-based sauces are essentially cheating in the hot sauce world. The capsaicin is chemically extracted from peppers and made into sauce, hence its tasteless and chemical-ish flavor. All of Ed Currie's sauces are made from pure pepper mash and vinegar, etc.

[semi]

in the hot ones reveal for this he mentioned using pepper x distillate in the sauce. isn't that just another word for extract or am I misunderstanding?

[baggachipz]

A distillate is using condensed vapor from the distillation process, while extract is using a chemical solvent (such as alcohol) to pull a material out of a mixture. Hence with the chemical solvent, you get a less complete end product and extra (unwanted) flavors introduced into the final product.