To all those that kept the stock air box and pulled the snorkel: Other than the sound, what changes in performance did it cause?

Also wondering about gas consumption lately. The bike runs the same as usual, but seems to drink more lately. At least I have the feeling it does. I had a 70 mile trip yesterday. Almost entirely superslab and keeping speeds between 70-80mph. Half throttle and a little more to keep that speed, with a few full throttle bursts. Superslab has some hills, some a little steep. I filled up when I came back and averaged 43mpg. Is that too much? I have a debaffled stock exhaust with bleed holes 52.5 pilot and stock 145 main jet. Stock air box and filter. I did pull the air filter today and it wasn't really dirty, but I soaked it in gasoline and blew it out with air from the opposite side. It is a little more white now. The mixture screw is 2 1/4 turns out and the white spacer is replaced with three brass washers from the Lancer kit. Did that long time ago. I have pops and jake brake sound on decel with an occasional bang, and it has a decent poof of shutdown. That's how it always ran. Performance hasn't changed in the last couple of years, but I used to get at least around 50mpg and better. But I have to admit that I run more superslab than before. Still I feel like 43mpg at that speed sounds a little much. The bike rolls lightly with no effort, so there seems to be no brake dragging or anything. Might have to check if the belt is a little tight.

 
A lot of your answer depends on if you have a low resistance air filter or not.   Stock filters don't require de-snorkling and door removal as the pleated filter paper is a lot more restrictive than the air box's total intake restriction.

Getting rid of the pleated paper filter and replacing it with a K&N or  with a modded filter frame with low resistance media and suddenly your snorkle and air box cover become the airflow restrictor, not the paper filter.  

Remember, your stock air box is designed to muffle the intake noise, which our bike has a considerable amount of.   Opening up the breathing pathway means you will be listening to the old girl moan a bit when you twist on her tit ...

But, if you like things stock and don't like extra noise, leave the stock airbox cover and snorkle and filter alone
(they are designed as a mated set after all).

Oldfeller that was an excellent explanation. Thank you for that. I did pull the snorkel, because I am one of those that likes a racy noise. I am not for really, really loud, but I like intake noise. So practically in my case pulling the snorkel should just make a tad more noise, and nothing else. i haven't rode the bike yet after pulling the snorkel, I still have to try it out. I still wonder about the gas consumption.

Rode the bike without the snorkrl yesterday. No difference in performance, but sounds a tad more throaty. I really liked how it sounded with the airbox door off. I might take it off for good.