diff --git a/index.js b/index.js
index 0193621..c42f996 100644
--- a/index.js
+++ b/index.js
@@ -116,7 +116,7 @@ class Pipeline extends Minipass {
       this.emit('drain')
   }
   write (chunk, enc, cb) {
-    return this[_head].write(chunk, enc, cb)
+    return this[_head].write(chunk, enc, cb) && this.flowing
   }
   end (chunk, enc, cb) {
     this[_head].end(chunk, enc, cb)
diff --git a/test/backpressure.js b/test/backpressure.js
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b7ef0c2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/backpressure.js
@@ -0,0 +1,37 @@
+const Pipeline = require('../')
+const Minipass = require('minipass')
+const t = require('tap')
+
+t.test('verify that pipelines exert backpressure properly', t => {
+  const tail = new class extends Minipass {
+    write (chunk, encoding, cb) {
+      const ret = super.write(chunk, encoding, cb)
+      t.equal(ret, true, 'tail write should return true')
+      return ret
+    }
+  }
+
+  const head = new class extends Minipass {
+    write (chunk, encoding, cb) {
+      const ret = super.write(chunk, encoding, cb)
+      t.equal(ret, true, 'head write should return true')
+      return ret
+    }
+  }
+
+  const pipe = new Pipeline({ encoding: 'utf8' }, head, tail)
+
+  for (let i = 0; i < 5; i++) {
+    t.equal(pipe.write('' + i), false, 'write is false until flowing')
+  }
+
+  const p = pipe.concat().then(d => t.equal(d, '0123456789', 'got expected data'))
+
+  for (let i = 5; i < 10; i++) {
+    t.equal(pipe.write('' + i), true, 'write is true when pipeline is flowing')
+  }
+
+  pipe.end()
+
+  return p
+})