diff --git a/RELEASE_NOTES.txt b/RELEASE_NOTES.txt
index 2f32f00d1..e2799cab7 100644
--- a/RELEASE_NOTES.txt
+++ b/RELEASE_NOTES.txt
@@ -1,6 +1,9 @@
 Changes in trunk
 -------------------
 
+* [HTTPCLIENT-900] Don't enforce URI syntax for messages with an explicit target host.  
+  Contributed by Oleg Kalnichevski <olegk at apache.org>
+
 * [HTTPCLIENT-1250] Allow query string to be ignored when determining cacheability for HTTP 1.0 
   responses.
   Contributed by Don Brown <mrdon at twdata.org> 
diff --git a/httpclient/src/main/java/org/apache/http/client/protocol/RequestAddCookies.java b/httpclient/src/main/java/org/apache/http/client/protocol/RequestAddCookies.java
index 33104ca07..1f910f188 100644
--- a/httpclient/src/main/java/org/apache/http/client/protocol/RequestAddCookies.java
+++ b/httpclient/src/main/java/org/apache/http/client/protocol/RequestAddCookies.java
@@ -45,7 +45,6 @@ import org.apache.http.annotation.Immutable;
 import org.apache.http.client.CookieStore;
 import org.apache.http.client.config.CookieSpecs;
 import org.apache.http.client.config.RequestConfig;
-import org.apache.http.client.methods.HttpUriRequest;
 import org.apache.http.config.Lookup;
 import org.apache.http.conn.routing.RouteInfo;
 import org.apache.http.cookie.Cookie;
@@ -55,6 +54,7 @@ import org.apache.http.cookie.CookieSpecProvider;
 import org.apache.http.cookie.SetCookie2;
 import org.apache.http.protocol.HttpContext;
 import org.apache.http.util.Args;
+import org.apache.http.util.TextUtils;
 
 /**
  * Request interceptor that matches cookies available in the current
@@ -121,17 +121,12 @@ public class RequestAddCookies implements HttpRequestInterceptor {
             this.log.debug("CookieSpec selected: " + policy);
         }
 
-        URI requestURI;
-        if (request instanceof HttpUriRequest) {
-            requestURI = ((HttpUriRequest) request).getURI();
-        } else {
-            try {
-                requestURI = new URI(request.getRequestLine().getUri());
-            } catch (URISyntaxException ignore) {
-                requestURI = null;
-            }
+        URI requestURI = null;
+        try {
+            requestURI = new URI(request.getRequestLine().getUri());
+        } catch (URISyntaxException ignore) {
         }
-
+        String path = requestURI != null ? requestURI.getPath() : null;
         String hostName = targetHost.getHostName();
         int port = targetHost.getPort();
         if (port < 0) {
@@ -141,7 +136,7 @@ public class RequestAddCookies implements HttpRequestInterceptor {
         CookieOrigin cookieOrigin = new CookieOrigin(
                 hostName,
                 port >= 0 ? port : 0,
-                requestURI != null ? requestURI.getPath() : "/",
+                !TextUtils.isEmpty(path) ? path : "/",
                 route.isSecure());
 
         // Get an instance of the selected cookie policy
diff --git a/httpclient/src/test/java/org/apache/http/impl/client/integration/TestClientRequestExecution.java b/httpclient/src/test/java/org/apache/http/impl/client/integration/TestClientRequestExecution.java
index aac2d545c..79764ce0d 100644
--- a/httpclient/src/test/java/org/apache/http/impl/client/integration/TestClientRequestExecution.java
+++ b/httpclient/src/test/java/org/apache/http/impl/client/integration/TestClientRequestExecution.java
@@ -43,6 +43,7 @@ import org.apache.http.client.methods.HttpPost;
 import org.apache.http.entity.InputStreamEntity;
 import org.apache.http.entity.StringEntity;
 import org.apache.http.impl.client.HttpClients;
+import org.apache.http.message.BasicHttpRequest;
 import org.apache.http.protocol.BasicHttpContext;
 import org.apache.http.protocol.ExecutionContext;
 import org.apache.http.protocol.HttpContext;
@@ -197,4 +198,22 @@ public class TestClientRequestExecution extends IntegrationTestBase {
         }
     }
 
+    @Test
+    public void testNonCompliantURI() throws Exception {
+        this.localServer.register("*", new SimpleService());
+        this.httpclient = HttpClients.createDefault();
+
+        HttpContext context = new BasicHttpContext();
+        BasicHttpRequest request = new BasicHttpRequest("GET", "blah.:.blah.:.");
+        HttpResponse response = this.httpclient.execute(getServerHttp(), request, context);
+        EntityUtils.consume(response.getEntity());
+
+        Assert.assertEquals(HttpStatus.SC_OK, response.getStatusLine().getStatusCode());
+
+        HttpRequest reqWrapper = (HttpRequest) context.getAttribute(
+                ExecutionContext.HTTP_REQUEST);
+
+        Assert.assertEquals("blah.:.blah.:.", reqWrapper.getRequestLine().getUri());
+    }
+
 }