they contain a different mix of chemicals and cannabinoids
So it depends on the leaf, most people that say its harsh are people who mix their lovely herb with mass produced tobacco leaf, so I don`t see why they have an issue but hey
If you cut away everything but flowers then 1g of them flowers would technically be stronger then the 1g of pre trimmed bud but that`s still no reason to trim it all off
The other thing is that the leaves have a different mix and ratio of cannabinoids and some people just want as much thc as they can get so it can make a difference to the ratio of cannabinoids
but it`s pretty easy to just pull off what ever you don`t like when its dry, just some leaf can effect the smell, it smells more like dam or drying grass, the wrong kind of grass, any leaves like that need to go, normally I cut the when the plant is in flush so I don`t have loads of trimming and shit to deal with before or after drying.
but I leave the small sugar leaves on and even sometimes some of the bigger shade leaves, I take off all the fan leaves of course
Kinda depends on the strain too