diff --git a/lib/index.js b/lib/index.js
index dd1cf41..d57c2f0 100755
--- a/lib/index.js
+++ b/lib/index.js
@@ -85,6 +85,13 @@ exports.create = function (statusCode, message, data) {
 
 internals.create = function (statusCode, message, data, ctor) {
 
+    if (message instanceof Error) {
+        if (data) {
+            message.data = data;
+        }
+        return exports.wrap(message, statusCode);
+    }
+
     const error = new Error(message ? message : undefined);       // Avoids settings null message
     Error.captureStackTrace(error, ctor);                       // Filter the stack to our external API
     error.data = data || null;
diff --git a/test/index.js b/test/index.js
index 53b89d6..0ca8e84 100755
--- a/test/index.js
+++ b/test/index.js
@@ -726,3 +726,43 @@ describe('stack trace', () => {
         done();
     });
 });
+
+describe('method with error object instead of message', () => {
+
+    ['badRequest', 'unauthorized', 'forbidden', 'notFound', 'methodNotAllowed',
+        'notAcceptable', 'proxyAuthRequired', 'clientTimeout', 'conflict',
+        'resourceGone', 'lengthRequired', 'preconditionFailed', 'entityTooLarge',
+        'uriTooLong', 'unsupportedMediaType', 'rangeNotSatisfiable', 'expectationFailed',
+        'badData', 'preconditionRequired', 'tooManyRequests',
+
+        // 500s
+        'internal', 'notImplemented', 'badGateway', 'serverUnavailable',
+        'gatewayTimeout', 'badImplementation'
+    ].forEach((name) => {
+
+        it(`should allow \`Boom${name}(err)\` and preserve the error`, (done) => {
+
+            const error = new Error('An example mongoose validation error');
+            error.name = 'ValidationError';
+            const err = Boom[name](error);
+            expect(err.name).to.equal('ValidationError');
+            expect(err.message).to.equal('An example mongoose validation error');
+            done();
+        });
+
+        // exclude unauthorized
+        if (name !== 'unauthorized') {
+
+            it(`should allow \`Boom.${name}(err, data)\` and preserve the data`, (done) => {
+
+                const error = new Error();
+                const err = Boom[name](error, { foo: 'bar' });
+                expect(err.data).to.equal({ foo: 'bar' });
+                done();
+            });
+
+        }
+
+    });
+
+});