diff --git a/src/core/pbuf.c b/src/core/pbuf.c
index 63bf8923..d78e0362 100644
--- a/src/core/pbuf.c
+++ b/src/core/pbuf.c
@@ -825,13 +825,6 @@ pbuf_take(struct pbuf *f)
           /* prev->next == p at this point */
           /* break chain and insert new pbuf instead */
           prev->next = q;
-          /* p is no longer pointed to by prev or by our caller, 
-           * as the caller must do p = pbuf_take(p); so free it
-           * from reference through linkage.
-           * note that we have set p->next to NULL already so that
-           * we will not free the rest of the chain by accident.
-           */
-          pbuf_free(p);
         /* prev == NULL, so we replaced the top pbuf of the chain */
         } else
           top = q;
@@ -842,6 +835,13 @@ pbuf_take(struct pbuf *f)
         /* do not copy ref, since someone else might be using the old buffer */
         /* pbuf is not freed, as this is the responsibility of the application */
         DEBUGF(PBUF_DEBUG, ("pbuf_take: replaced PBUF_REF %p with %p\n", (void *)p, (void *)q));
+        /* p is no longer pointed to by prev or by our caller, 
+         * as the caller must do p = pbuf_take(p); so free it
+         * from reference through linkage.
+         * note that we have set p->next to NULL already so that
+         * we will not free the rest of the chain by accident.
+         */
+        pbuf_free(p);
         p = q;
       }
       else