diff --git a/test/base-queue-handler.test.ts b/test/base-queue-handler.test.ts
index d1d6528..e2c37d2 100644
--- a/test/base-queue-handler.test.ts
+++ b/test/base-queue-handler.test.ts
@@ -183,12 +183,12 @@ describe('Test baseQueueHandler', function () {
     DemoHandler.prototype.afterDlq = originalAfterDlq;
   });
 
-  it('should add string to dlq because afterDlq throws error', async function () {
-    sandbox.useFakeTimers();
+  it('should add raw buffer to dlq when afterDlq throws to prevent double-encoding', async function () {
     const handler = new DemoHandler(this.name, rabbit, {
       retries: 2,
-      retryDelay: 100
+      retryDelay: 10
     });
+    await handler.created;
     handler.handle = sandbox.spy(() => {
       throw new Error('test error');
     });
@@ -198,18 +198,28 @@ describe('Test baseQueueHandler', function () {
         throw new Error('test error');
       }
     }));
+
+    const dlqMessages: any[] = [];
+    await rabbit.subscribe(this.name + '_dlq', (msg, ack) => {
+      dlqMessages.push({ event: JSON.parse(msg.content.toString()), content: msg.content });
+      ack(null);
+    });
+
     await rabbit.publish(this.name, { test: 'data' }, { correlationId: '3' });
-    const publish = (handler.rabbit.publish = sandbox.spy(handler.rabbit, 'publish'));
-    sandbox.clock.tick(100);
-    await rabbit.connected;
-    sandbox.clock.tick(100);
-    await rabbit.connected;
-    sandbox.clock.tick(100);
-    sandbox.clock.restore();
-    await new Promise(resolve => setTimeout(resolve, 400));
+    const publish = sandbox.spy(handler.rabbit, 'publish');
+    await new Promise(resolve => setTimeout(resolve, 300));
+
     afterDlq.calledOnce.should.be.true();
     publish.calledTwice.should.be.true();
-    publish.args[publish.callCount - 1][1].should.eql('{"test":"data"}');
+    const fallbackPayload = publish.args[publish.callCount - 1][1];
+    Buffer.isBuffer(fallbackPayload).should.be.true();
+    fallbackPayload.toString().should.eql('{"test":"data"}');
+
+    // TODO: This flow also produces duplicate messages on the DLQ,
+    // to be investigated and handled on the next PR
+    dlqMessages.length.should.equal(2);
+    dlqMessages[0].event.should.eql({ test: 'data' });
+    dlqMessages[1].event.should.eql({ test: 'data' });
   });
 
   it('should add to dlq after x retries and get error response even if afterDlq throws error', async function () {
diff --git a/test/encode-decode.test.ts b/test/encode-decode.test.ts
index 5c3c457..8553d8b 100644
--- a/test/encode-decode.test.ts
+++ b/test/encode-decode.test.ts
@@ -14,6 +14,13 @@ describe('encode-decode', function() {
     it('supports text', function() {
       encode('foo', 'application/text').should.eql(Buffer.from('foo'));
     });
+
+    it('returns Buffer unchanged without re-encoding as JSON', function() {
+      const buf = Buffer.from('{"foo":"bar"}');
+      const result = encode(buf);
+      result.should.equal(buf);
+      result.toString().should.equal('{"foo":"bar"}');
+    });
   });
 
   describe('decode', function() {
diff --git a/ts/base-queue-handler.ts b/ts/base-queue-handler.ts
index acdce54..68c4fcd 100644
--- a/ts/base-queue-handler.ts
+++ b/ts/base-queue-handler.ts
@@ -182,16 +182,16 @@ abstract class BaseQueueHandler {
   }
 
   async addToDLQ(retries, msg: amqp.Message, ack) {
+    const correlationId = this.getCorrelationId(msg);
     try {
-      const correlationId = this.getCorrelationId(msg);
       const event = decode(msg);
       this.logger.warn(`[${correlationId}] Adding to dlq: ${this.dlqName} after ${retries} retries`);
       await this.rabbit.publish(this.dlqName, event, msg.properties);
       const response = await this.afterDlq({ msg, event });
       ack(msg.properties.headers.errors.message, response);
     } catch (err) {
-      this.logger.error(err);
-      await this.rabbit.publish(this.dlqName, msg.content.toString(), msg.properties);
+      this.logger.error(`[${correlationId}] Failed to add to dlq: ${this.dlqName}`, err);
+      await this.rabbit.publish(this.dlqName, msg.content, msg.properties);
       ack(err.message, null);
     }
   }
diff --git a/ts/encode-decode.ts b/ts/encode-decode.ts
index d1430b3..8b8c8f4 100644
--- a/ts/encode-decode.ts
+++ b/ts/encode-decode.ts
@@ -1,4 +1,7 @@
 export function encode(message: Buffer | string | Object = '', contentType = 'application/json') {
+  if (Buffer.isBuffer(message)) {
+    return message;
+  }
   if (contentType === 'application/json') {
     return Buffer.from(JSON.stringify(message));
   }