Only a guess but I read "cane" as "sugar cane" and "cane heads" as some sort of candy.  But I think it more likely that cane means walking stick.  Dweebish sorts of fellows are often described in older literature as sitting and sucking the heads of their canes as a baby does its pacifier.

I don't remember the context here, but the latter seems to fit the case.

Carl

-----Original Message-----
From: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> On Behalf Of ben
Sent: Saturday, July 15, 2023 10:02 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: sucking cne heads

I'm reading The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, in chapter 5 it read "...for they had stood in the vestibule sucking their cane heads, a circling wall of oiled and simpering admirers...", I don't quite understand what the young men are doing, is "sucking their cane heads " a metaphor? Can someone explain it?
Tks