diff --git a/include/haproxy/pool-t.h b/include/haproxy/pool-t.h
index 37980c629..a1a9f6530 100644
--- a/include/haproxy/pool-t.h
+++ b/include/haproxy/pool-t.h
@@ -43,6 +43,7 @@
 /* pool debugging flags */
 #define POOL_DBG_FAIL_ALLOC 0x00000001  // randomly fail memory allocations
 #define POOL_DBG_DONT_MERGE 0x00000002  // do not merge same-size pools
+#define POOL_DBG_COLD_FIRST 0x00000004  // pick cold objects first
 
 
 /* This is the head of a thread-local cache */
diff --git a/include/haproxy/pool.h b/include/haproxy/pool.h
index 541e0d96b..1d224241b 100644
--- a/include/haproxy/pool.h
+++ b/include/haproxy/pool.h
@@ -275,16 +275,18 @@ static inline void *pool_get_from_cache(struct pool_head *pool, const void *call
 			return NULL;
 	}
 
+	if (unlikely(pool_debugging & POOL_DBG_COLD_FIRST)) {
+		/* allocate oldest objects first so as to keep them as long as possible
+		 * in the cache before being reused and maximizing the chance to detect
+		 * an overwrite.
+		 */
+		item = LIST_PREV(&ph->list, typeof(item), by_pool);
+	} else {
+		/* allocate hottest objects first */
+		item = LIST_NEXT(&ph->list, typeof(item), by_pool);
+	}
 #if defined(DEBUG_POOL_INTEGRITY)
-	/* allocate oldest objects first so as to keep them as long as possible
-	 * in the cache before being reused and maximizing the chance to detect
-	 * an overwrite.
-	 */
-	item = LIST_PREV(&ph->list, typeof(item), by_pool);
 	pool_check_pattern(ph, item, pool->size);
-#else
-	/* allocate hottest objects first */
-	item = LIST_NEXT(&ph->list, typeof(item), by_pool);
 #endif
 	BUG_ON(&item->by_pool == &ph->list);
 	LIST_DELETE(&item->by_pool);
diff --git a/src/pool.c b/src/pool.c
index 7f9c3df5a..87ab4b65d 100644
--- a/src/pool.c
+++ b/src/pool.c
@@ -43,6 +43,9 @@ uint pool_debugging __read_mostly =               /* set of POOL_DBG_* flags */
 #endif
 #ifdef DEBUG_DONT_SHARE_POOLS
 	POOL_DBG_DONT_MERGE |
+#endif
+#ifdef DEBUG_POOL_INTEGRITY
+	POOL_DBG_COLD_FIRST |
 #endif
 	0;