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1961 Harney & Cross Narcotic Officer's Handbk. iii. 58 The method of smoking heroin called ‘chasing the dragon’ or its variant, ‘playing the mouth organ’... In ‘chasing the dragon’ the heroin and any diluting drug are placed on a folded piece of tinfoil. This is heated with a taper and the resulting fumes inhaled through a small tube of bamboo or rolled paper. The fumes move up and down the tinfoil with the movements of the molten powder, resembling the undulating tail of the mythical Chinese dragon. When a matchbox cover instead of a tube is used to assist in inhaling the vapour, that operation is called ‘playing the mouth organ’, which the action suggests.

1982 T. Mo Sour Sweet vi. 50 Probably the stuff was now only twenty per cent pure. Still, good enough for ‘chasing the dragon’ Hong Kong style with match, silver foil, and paper tube.

1984 Times 8 Oct. 13/3 More [heroin] is taken by sniffing the powder—snorting; or by ‘chasing the dragon’..less through intravenous injection.

1985 R. Lewis Blurred Reality iii. 105 There's this myth among the kids that if they inhale the burned skag it isn't going to hurt them. Chasing the dragon, they call it.