diff --git a/spec/app/text-buffer-spec.coffee b/spec/app/text-buffer-spec.coffee
index 7a23e9326..cb5395933 100644
--- a/spec/app/text-buffer-spec.coffee
+++ b/spec/app/text-buffer-spec.coffee
@@ -1265,3 +1265,9 @@ describe 'Buffer', ->
         expect(serializedState.path).toBeUndefined()
         expect(buffer.getPath()).toBeUndefined()
         expect(buffer.getText()).toBe("abc")
+
+    it "never deserializes two separate instances of the same buffer", ->
+      serializedState = buffer.serialize()
+      buffer.release()
+      buffer = Buffer.deserialize(serializedState)
+      expect(Buffer.deserialize(serializedState)).toBe buffer
diff --git a/src/app/project.coffee b/src/app/project.coffee
index 2e4d718ac..81bf19c76 100644
--- a/src/app/project.coffee
+++ b/src/app/project.coffee
@@ -127,19 +127,17 @@ class Project
     else
       @on 'buffer-created', (buffer) -> callback(buffer)
 
-  bufferForPath: (filePath) ->
+  bufferForPath: (filePath, text) ->
     if filePath?
       filePath = @resolve(filePath)
       if filePath
         buffer = _.find @buffers, (buffer) -> buffer.getPath() == filePath
-        buffer or @buildBuffer(filePath)
-      else
-
+        buffer or @buildBuffer(filePath, text)
     else
-      @buildBuffer()
+      @buildBuffer(null, text)
 
-  buildBuffer: (filePath) ->
-    buffer = new Buffer(filePath)
+  buildBuffer: (filePath, text) ->
+    buffer = new Buffer(filePath, text)
     @buffers.push buffer
     @trigger 'buffer-created', buffer
     buffer
diff --git a/src/app/text-buffer.coffee b/src/app/text-buffer.coffee
index ab49c47e1..3ebfda88e 100644
--- a/src/app/text-buffer.coffee
+++ b/src/app/text-buffer.coffee
@@ -25,11 +25,8 @@ class Buffer
   invalidMarkers: null
   refcount: 0
 
-  @deserialize: (state) ->
-    if state && (state.path? || state.text?)
-      new Buffer(state.path, state.text)
-    else
-      new Buffer(null)
+  @deserialize: ({path, text}) ->
+    project.bufferForPath(path, text)
 
   constructor: (path, initialText) ->
     @id = @constructor.idCounter++