Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (US) a clarinet; thus lick the licorice stick v., to play the clarinet.

1934		Charleston (WV) Daily Mail 31 July 6/8: Musicans have slang terms for every instrument [...] Licorice stick – clarinet.
1938		Pic (N.Y.) Mar. 7: licking the licorice stick or gob stick. — playing the clarinet. Also known as an agony pipe or wop stick.
1941		Pic (N.Y.) 24 June 24: What Do You Know About Music? [...] 18. What instruments are sometimes referred to as ‘woodpile,’ ‘plumbing,’ ‘licorice stick,’ ‘88,’ ‘skins’?
1951		J.D. Salinger Catcher in the Rye (1958) 79: She called his clarinet a ‘liquorice stick’. Was she corny.
1968		I. Reed Free-Lance Pallbearers 9: Dat Sammy sure can blow the licoric [sic] stick.
1977		J.L. Dillard Lex. Black Eng. 69: That kind of pejoration has obviously taken place with terms like licorice stick ‘clarinet’ and slush pump ‘trombone’.
1999		(con. 1940s) S.J. Douglas Listening in: Radio and the Amer. Imagination 235: He then introduces a ‘hepster with the hottest licorice stick in town.’.

2. (US, also licorice) a black person.

1931		G.S. Schuyler Black No More (1971) 140: A fellow named Licorice that washes pots.
1977		A. Bleasdale Who’s Been Sleeping in my Bed 104: Y’dad was a pair of Polaroid sunglasses? Y’mam was a licorice stick?
1983		I.L. Allen Lang. of Ethnic Conflict 46: Color Allusions, Other than ‘Black’ and ‘Negro’: [...] licorice [also licorice-stick].

3. (US gay) a (black man’s) penis.

[1573		‘Cambridg Libell’ in May & Bryson Verse Libel 339: A Draper Cram’d her greedie gorge, / She loves a lycorishe stycke].
1972		B. Rodgers Queens’ Vernacular.
1988		H. Max Gay (S)language 26: Licorice Stick — black penis.
1990		Tupper & Wortley Aus. Prison Sl. Gloss. 🌐 Licorice stick. 2. Penis. Rhyming slang for prick.

4. (Aus. prison) a baton.

1990

Tupper & Wortley Aus. Prison Sl. Gloss. 🌐 Licorice stick. 1. A baton. A visual allusion.