Green’s Dictionary of Slang

gee n.7

also boo-gee, G, gee rag, g-rag
[? ext. of gee n.6 (1) but, despite dates, poss. abbr. gasket n. (2). Note that, unlike in the UK, where registered addicts (and via them other users) were allowed to use proper medical syringes, US users were often forced to make their own works n. (4a), a do-it-yourself assemblage of a hollow needle and an eye-dropper]

(US) a paper ‘collar’ used by a drug user to secure the needle to the eye-dropper prior to injecting the heroin/water solution; earlier use in opium smoking.

Show quotations
[US]A.J. Pollock Und. Speaks n.p.: Gee rag, cotton washer placed between opium pipe and bowl.
[US]D. Maurer ‘Argot of the Und. Narcotic Addict’ Pt 1 in AS XI:2 121/1: gee or gee rag. The packing (usually carefully made of cigarette-paper and thread) between the needle and the medicine-dropper of an emergency gun.
[US]D. Maurer ‘Argot of the Und. Narcotic Addict’ Pt 2 in AS XIII:3 182/1: boo-gee. 1. The tissue-paper packing or gee-rag used to make an air-tight connection between the medicine-dropper and the joint or needle.
[US]Goldin et al. DAUL 86/1: G-rag. A cloth for cleaning, cooling, and holding an opium pipe.
[US]C. Cooper Jr Scene (1996) 92: This [...] is what most addicts call a spike. [...] you hold the needle on by tearing the edge of a dollar bill and wrapping it around the small end of the dropper. You call that the ‘G’.
[US] ‘Honky-Tonk Bud’ in D. Wepman et al. Life (1976) 56: They pulled out two spikes, laid out two hypes, / And rolled some one-dollar-bill gees.
[US] ‘Sl. of Watts’ in Current Sl. III:2 25: G-rag. n. A small piece of cloth, part of an opium pipe.
[US]M. Agar Ripping and Running 147: You mean you’re not gonna save me a gee? [Ibid.] 160: G – 1. collar (Paper or thread used to tightly fasten spike to dropper).
[US]N. Heard House of Slammers 88: He unwrapped two spikes, laid out two hyps, / And made up some dollar-bill gees.
[US](con. 1930s) Courtwright & Des Jarlais Addicts Who Survived 97: The outfit was bulky. You had to have the pipe – the stick – the opium, the gee rag, and the top part of the bowl, and the things to clean it after you were through smoking.