diff --git a/bindings/python/src/session.cpp b/bindings/python/src/session.cpp
index 0878a3ec8..d47721d5b 100644
--- a/bindings/python/src/session.cpp
+++ b/bindings/python/src/session.cpp
@@ -151,7 +151,7 @@ namespace
         , std::vector<char>& rd, std::list<std::string>& string_storage)
     {
         // torrent_info objects are always held by an intrusive_ptr in the python binding
-        if (params.has_key("ti") && !params.get("ti").is_none())
+        if (params.has_key("ti") && params.get("ti") != boost::python::object())
             p.ti = extract<intrusive_ptr<torrent_info> >(params["ti"]);
 
         if (params.has_key("info_hash"))