Leah!! You were exactly right. I took a closer inspection of his face and he hadn't shed near his nose/heat pits. It was so hard to tell see that, I would have never noticed if you wouldn't have mentioned it. I had my boyfriend hold him and I tackled him with my fingernails and managed to pull a gnarly piece of shed from the entire area. Each nostril was completely covered which is what I'm assuming was causing the puffing because the air was only escaping from underneath the sides of the stuck area. I believe that is why I saw his throat move earlier also because he couldn't breathe through his nose at all.
Good news is though is that that is clear and he can breathe and I haven't heard a puff since! I'm going to check on him again after work and sit with him for a while to listen and then if I still hear any odd noises, we'll keep our appt.