diff --git a/lib/http/client.rb b/lib/http/client.rb
index 7a6e9148..dacc7500 100644
--- a/lib/http/client.rb
+++ b/lib/http/client.rb
@@ -107,8 +107,8 @@ def close
 
     # Verify our request isn't going to be made against another URI
     def verify_connection!(uri)
-      if default_options.persistent? && base_host(uri) != default_options.persistent
-        fail StateError, "Persistence is enabled for #{default_options.persistent}, but we got #{base_host(uri)}"
+      if default_options.persistent? && uri.origin != default_options.persistent
+        fail StateError, "Persistence is enabled for #{default_options.persistent}, but we got #{uri.origin}"
       # We re-create the connection object because we want to let prior requests
       # lazily load the body as long as possible, and this mimics prior functionality.
       elsif @connection && (!@connection.keep_alive? || @connection.expired?)
@@ -120,11 +120,6 @@ def verify_connection!(uri)
       end
     end
 
-    # Strips out query/path to give us a consistent way of comparing hosts
-    def base_host(uri)
-      uri.omit(:query, :path).to_s
-    end
-
     # Merges query params if needed
     #
     # @param [#to_s] uri
diff --git a/lib/http/options.rb b/lib/http/options.rb
index 2fbf4eb8..145074a7 100644
--- a/lib/http/options.rb
+++ b/lib/http/options.rb
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
 require "openssl"
 require "socket"
 require "http/cache/null_cache"
+require "http/uri"
 
 module HTTP
   class Options
@@ -81,6 +82,14 @@ def follow=(value)
                 end
     end
 
+    def persistent=(value)
+      @persistent = value ? HTTP::URI.parse(value).origin : nil
+    end
+
+    def persistent?
+      !persistent.nil?
+    end
+
     def_option :cache do |cache_or_cache_options|
       if cache_or_cache_options.respond_to? :perform
         cache_or_cache_options
@@ -90,10 +99,6 @@ def follow=(value)
       end
     end
 
-    def persistent?
-      !persistent.nil? && persistent != ""
-    end
-
     def [](option)
       send(option) rescue nil
     end