I've read the reason to strip leaves, and maybe cut the top one in half, is the cutting has no roots for a while to bring moisture to the leaves, and the leaves will die before the fig can develop the necessary roots. The reason for the tent is to create a mini greenhouse to keep moisture around the stem and top half leaf so it can get moisture that way instead of through it's internal channels until the roots grow.
It's been two weeks since I started approx 40 green cuttings, and so far all are very green, and some even have tips exploding with little leaves. I have not watered them once, and there is still moisture on the walls of their mini-green house gallon plastic bottle tops.
Al's gritty mix is good because it drains well, and doesn't encourage roots to rot. My 40 cuttings are in a simple mixture of perlite and potting soil. The worst thing that I have encountered rooting cuttings is invasions of fungus gnats, which can be killed with Thermocide BT, but those gnats are evil for sure! This no longer happens mainly because I learned the gnats don't like dry soil on the top, so I put a layer of crushed granite and sand over the potting soil to discourage them.
Good luck with your cuttings!
Suzi