Remove Air Assist?

Holiday greetings, everyone!

I just purchased the “short shroud” from JTech for my 7watt laser so that I can get clearance when laser etching a 3D (terrain) map. However, I have the air assist nozzle to allow for. Those of you with similar setup, do you leave the nozzle on and extend the focus of the laser to get clearance, or do you remove the nozzle so that you don’t have to touch factory set focus?

You don’t want to burn without air assist because that is what keeps your lens clean.