It's entirely up to you. Any pinching is to suit your aesthetic. The plant is clearly happy and won't care either way.

Not sure what type of Aster it is, tag must have gotten lost over the Winter. It could very well be one of those. I received it in bloom in early September, so I put it in the ground around that time. I guess I thought it was kind of like a Mum and wouldn't bloom until the Fall. Interesting...

I pinch mine up until the 4th of July. So it’s up to you if you want blooms now, or pinch for blooms later. I also pinch my mum’s the same for a later bloom.

If you post a picture someone can probably give you a name.

Yes, I will post a pic when I get home cause I'm curious now if it's a long blooming variety

I haven’t had great luck with asters, but I used to live and garden in Texas and my mums used to bloom twice a year, spring and fall.

Although I've maintained a number of different perennial aster cultivars, including several Frikart's asters, I've never either pinched buds or Chelsea chopped any plants For me I'd say that the best bang-for-the-(log-term) buck, in perennial aster cultivars where we garden, is New England asters. For the first time, however, our garden has a single former resident/still visiting rabbit which is proving hard to finally expel. The rabbit definitely favours asters (and to a less extend garden phlox) so it's going to be interesting to observe it's Chelsea nipping effect. As you might appreciate, that rabbit has built up a sizeable store of ill-will on my part.