Sugar will not stick to the stick if the sticks were not set aside to dry. When you dip the sticks in water and then into the extra granulated sugar, you really want to make sure that granulated sugar has time to dry and stick to the stick. This will give the new rock candy sugar crystals something to grab on to. If the sticks are not dried well, the extra granulated sugar will simply wash off when placed in the rock candy collusion. Then, the rock candy crystals will not have anything to stick to and they will just slide off. Drying the sticks is essential to making rock candy lollipops.