No debug stick in hand, but I can still edit blocks

I discovered by chance that if you throw a debug stick on the ground (from the hotbar) and recover it with the invetary open, when you recover it and put it in your inventory. If you shift right click (without changing items in the hotbar) on a block with properties that can be modified, it works even if the player's hand is empty. When opening a chest, you can see that the debug stick has even been duplicated. (it's very specific).