I guess I throw in my
.
What I do:
Chop plant, remove all fan leaves. Hang plant upside down for 3-4 days until somewhat dried.
Chop into individual buds, remove more leaves but not all. Re-hang buds to dry further until ready for jars.
Small leaves that grow out of the buds are left on, this is my reason: Those small leaves are 1/2 or more covered in trichs, so are not bad smoke themselves.
Also, since the plant was hung those leaves sort of curl around part of the buds, protecting them from being damaged until I pull them apart to smoke.
I feel like that makes up for having a bit of leaf in my hits. It's also easy enough to remove those tiny leaves before packing a bowl. Whenever I run out of bud, the bag shake is still decent smoke.
I understand leaving those leaves on during drying increases risk of mold, just keep a very close eye on them while drying, make sure your RH is good, and have a fan on for good air circulation.
I'm not saying my way is better than total leaf removal, it's just what I prefer.