Healthy leaves do not sap energy after their initial development (within 2-3 days?). They are a net positve. There's no reason to remove a leaf as they are contributing even if shielded. They also transpire, which is how the plant gets carbon from atmosphere... quite important and they store building blocks. removing leaves just because everyone else does it is not a good reason to do so.
The first 1, 3 and 5-fingered leaves can often be ugly. As long as they grow out of it, it's not a concern in the long-run. Variegation is not much of a concern if it continues beyond that, but other mutations could pose problems. In my expereince fucked up leaf growth is usally not worth the effort -- wrinkly, weird spots, just fucked up growth patterns etc.
temp and RH measurement for vpd should be taken at the leaf surface (more stoma underneath, so probably better to measure there) -- an infrared themometer can do it. If measuring in the canopy or above/below it.. you need a temperature offset. I don't know enough to cover all the bases, but -5F is what 'they say' ... what they don't say is where that measurement was taken, becaue under the canopy may not need as large of an offset as above the canopy. this is the problem of getting 'simplified' explanations... we cannot extrapolate properly. The most important thing is to measure these things in a consistent way... your trial and error from there will lead you to a better spot without knowing the exact offset to use. "your" vpd calculation may not be precise but it will be consistent, which is enough to use as a tool to guide you, but "your" vpd you find to be optimal may actually be higher/lower etc as far as properly translating it to another garden that doesn;t measure temp/rh exactly like you do.
.8-1.1 won't cause issues for a young plant. you may want 1-1.2 for mature vege (this may be due to my error in offset as explained above - bit sketch to try to tell you what i do if we take measurements differently from environment). Some references suggest a slightly lower VPD than that, too. Who is right? Not entirely sure, lol.. so the basic concept should be used as a starting point from which you can observe and adjust... try a bit higher, try a bit lower.. just know if you don't use clones of same plant, you have a lot of genetic diversity that will create a fog of war as far as what you observe being attributed to the vpd or any number of other variables that aren't the same from one grow to the next.