diff --git a/transport/src/main/java/io/netty/channel/AbstractChannelHandlerContext.java b/transport/src/main/java/io/netty/channel/AbstractChannelHandlerContext.java
index 69cf681e04..cdde9172c8 100644
--- a/transport/src/main/java/io/netty/channel/AbstractChannelHandlerContext.java
+++ b/transport/src/main/java/io/netty/channel/AbstractChannelHandlerContext.java
@@ -19,7 +19,6 @@ import io.netty.buffer.ByteBufAllocator;
 import io.netty.channel.ChannelHandler.Skip;
 import io.netty.util.Attribute;
 import io.netty.util.AttributeKey;
-import io.netty.util.ReferenceCountUtil;
 import io.netty.util.ResourceLeakHint;
 import io.netty.util.concurrent.EventExecutor;
 import io.netty.util.concurrent.FastThreadLocal;
@@ -355,8 +354,7 @@ abstract class AbstractChannelHandlerContext implements ChannelHandlerContext, R
     @Override
     public ChannelHandlerContext fireChannelRead(Object msg) {
         AbstractChannelHandlerContext next = findContextInbound();
-        ReferenceCountUtil.touch(msg, next);
-        next.invoker().invokeChannelRead(next, msg);
+        next.invoker().invokeChannelRead(next, pipeline.touch(msg, next));
         return this;
     }
 
@@ -463,8 +461,7 @@ abstract class AbstractChannelHandlerContext implements ChannelHandlerContext, R
     @Override
     public ChannelFuture write(Object msg, ChannelPromise promise) {
         AbstractChannelHandlerContext next = findContextOutbound();
-        ReferenceCountUtil.touch(msg, next);
-        next.invoker().invokeWrite(next, msg, promise);
+        next.invoker().invokeWrite(next, pipeline.touch(msg, next), promise);
         return promise;
     }
 
@@ -477,12 +474,10 @@ abstract class AbstractChannelHandlerContext implements ChannelHandlerContext, R
 
     @Override
     public ChannelFuture writeAndFlush(Object msg, ChannelPromise promise) {
-        AbstractChannelHandlerContext next;
-        next = findContextOutbound();
-        ReferenceCountUtil.touch(msg, next);
-        next.invoker().invokeWrite(next, msg, promise);
-        next = findContextOutbound();
-        next.invoker().invokeFlush(next);
+        AbstractChannelHandlerContext next = findContextOutbound();
+        ChannelHandlerInvoker invoker = next.invoker();
+        invoker.invokeWrite(next, pipeline.touch(msg, next) , promise);
+        invoker.invokeFlush(next);
         return promise;
     }
 
diff --git a/transport/src/main/java/io/netty/channel/DefaultChannelPipeline.java b/transport/src/main/java/io/netty/channel/DefaultChannelPipeline.java
index 52cdcbed15..0ed2790418 100644
--- a/transport/src/main/java/io/netty/channel/DefaultChannelPipeline.java
+++ b/transport/src/main/java/io/netty/channel/DefaultChannelPipeline.java
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@ package io.netty.channel;
 
 import io.netty.channel.Channel.Unsafe;
 import io.netty.util.ReferenceCountUtil;
+import io.netty.util.ResourceLeakDetector;
 import io.netty.util.concurrent.EventExecutor;
 import io.netty.util.concurrent.EventExecutorGroup;
 import io.netty.util.concurrent.PausableEventExecutor;
@@ -64,6 +65,7 @@ final class DefaultChannelPipeline implements ChannelPipeline {
 
     private final Map<String, AbstractChannelHandlerContext> name2ctx =
             new HashMap<String, AbstractChannelHandlerContext>(4);
+    private final boolean touch = ResourceLeakDetector.getLevel() != ResourceLeakDetector.Level.DISABLED;
 
     /**
      * @see #findInvoker(EventExecutorGroup)
@@ -83,6 +85,10 @@ final class DefaultChannelPipeline implements ChannelPipeline {
         tail.prev = head;
     }
 
+    Object touch(Object msg, AbstractChannelHandlerContext next) {
+        return touch ? ReferenceCountUtil.touch(msg, next) : msg;
+    }
+
     @Override
     public Channel channel() {
         return channel;