I won't speak for Chris, but Gary Wood works with Chris, and last time Gary was here, he similarly told me to strip the needles off the sacrifice branch on a JBP, except at the end. Partly to slow down the sacrifice branch so the final branches aren't weakened and die back, and also to prevent the final branches from being shaded out.
See first photo for an example of growing out a pine; the final tree below, and the sacrifice branch much higher up.
Pines are built different than d-trees in that sacrifice branches are generally not used at all in the final design of pines, whereas with d-trees, you use a small section of the sacrifice branch as the next section of trunk...clearly present in the second photo.