diff --git a/client/config.go b/client/config.go
index fbafa30ea..cae5a7d55 100644
--- a/client/config.go
+++ b/client/config.go
@@ -62,6 +62,7 @@ type Config struct {
 	Pprof        bool   `json:"pprof"`
 	QPP          bool   `json:"qpp"`
 	QPPCount     int    `json:"qpp-count"`
+	CloseWait    int    `json:"closewait"`
 }
 
 func parseJSONConfig(config *Config, path string) error {
diff --git a/client/main.go b/client/main.go
index afcd8ae83..c4027acd5 100644
--- a/client/main.go
+++ b/client/main.go
@@ -202,6 +202,11 @@ func main() {
 			Value: 10, // nat keepalive interval in seconds
 			Usage: "seconds between heartbeats",
 		},
+		cli.IntFlag{
+			Name:  "closewait",
+			Value: 0,
+			Usage: "the seconds to wait before tearing down a connection",
+		},
 		cli.StringFlag{
 			Name:  "snmplog",
 			Value: "",
@@ -270,6 +275,7 @@ func main() {
 		config.Pprof = c.Bool("pprof")
 		config.QPP = c.Bool("QPP")
 		config.QPPCount = c.Int("QPPCount")
+		config.CloseWait = c.Int("closewait")
 
 		if c.String("c") != "" {
 			err := parseJSONConfig(&config, c.String("c"))
@@ -502,7 +508,7 @@ func main() {
 				}
 			}
 
-			go handleClient(_Q_, []byte(config.Key), muxes[idx].session, p1, config.Quiet)
+			go handleClient(_Q_, []byte(config.Key), muxes[idx].session, p1, config.Quiet, config.CloseWait)
 			rr++
 		}
 	}
@@ -510,7 +516,7 @@ func main() {
 }
 
 // handleClient aggregates connection p1 on mux
-func handleClient(_Q_ *qpp.QuantumPermutationPad, seed []byte, session *smux.Session, p1 net.Conn, quiet bool) {
+func handleClient(_Q_ *qpp.QuantumPermutationPad, seed []byte, session *smux.Session, p1 net.Conn, quiet bool, closeWait int) {
 	logln := func(v ...interface{}) {
 		if !quiet {
 			log.Println(v...)
@@ -537,7 +543,7 @@ func handleClient(_Q_ *qpp.QuantumPermutationPad, seed []byte, session *smux.Ses
 	}
 
 	// stream layer
-	err1, err2 := std.Pipe(s1, s2, false)
+	err1, err2 := std.Pipe(s1, s2, closeWait)
 
 	// handles transport layer errors
 	if err1 != nil && err1 != io.EOF {
diff --git a/server/config.go b/server/config.go
index 9eca1de97..947a2488a 100644
--- a/server/config.go
+++ b/server/config.go
@@ -59,6 +59,7 @@ type Config struct {
 	TCP          bool   `json:"tcp"`
 	QPP          bool   `json:"qpp"`
 	QPPCount     int    `json:"qpp-count"`
+	CloseWait    int    `json:"closewait"`
 }
 
 func parseJSONConfig(config *Config, path string) error {
diff --git a/server/main.go b/server/main.go
index b2adf25f6..8d12557f9 100644
--- a/server/main.go
+++ b/server/main.go
@@ -192,6 +192,11 @@ func main() {
 			Value: 10, // nat keepalive interval in seconds
 			Usage: "seconds between heartbeats",
 		},
+		cli.IntFlag{
+			Name:  "closewait",
+			Value: 30,
+			Usage: "the seconds to wait before tearing down a connection",
+		},
 		cli.StringFlag{
 			Name:  "snmplog",
 			Value: "",
@@ -257,6 +262,7 @@ func main() {
 		config.TCP = c.Bool("tcp")
 		config.QPP = c.Bool("QPP")
 		config.QPPCount = c.Int("QPPCount")
+		config.CloseWait = c.Int("closewait")
 
 		if c.String("c") != "" {
 			//Now only support json config file
@@ -484,7 +490,7 @@ func handleMux(_Q_ *qpp.QuantumPermutationPad, conn net.Conn, config *Config) {
 					p1.Close()
 					return
 				}
-				handleClient(_Q_, []byte(config.Key), p1, p2, config.Quiet)
+				handleClient(_Q_, []byte(config.Key), p1, p2, config.Quiet, config.CloseWait)
 			case TGT_UNIX:
 				p2, err = net.Dial("unix", config.Target)
 				if err != nil {
@@ -492,7 +498,7 @@ func handleMux(_Q_ *qpp.QuantumPermutationPad, conn net.Conn, config *Config) {
 					p1.Close()
 					return
 				}
-				handleClient(_Q_, []byte(config.Key), p1, p2, config.Quiet)
+				handleClient(_Q_, []byte(config.Key), p1, p2, config.Quiet, config.CloseWait)
 			}
 
 		}(stream)
@@ -500,7 +506,7 @@ func handleMux(_Q_ *qpp.QuantumPermutationPad, conn net.Conn, config *Config) {
 }
 
 // handleClient pipes two streams
-func handleClient(_Q_ *qpp.QuantumPermutationPad, seed []byte, p1 *smux.Stream, p2 net.Conn, quiet bool) {
+func handleClient(_Q_ *qpp.QuantumPermutationPad, seed []byte, p1 *smux.Stream, p2 net.Conn, quiet bool, closeWait int) {
 	logln := func(v ...interface{}) {
 		if !quiet {
 			log.Println(v...)
@@ -521,7 +527,7 @@ func handleClient(_Q_ *qpp.QuantumPermutationPad, seed []byte, p1 *smux.Stream,
 	}
 
 	// stream layer
-	err1, err2 := std.Pipe(s1, s2, true)
+	err1, err2 := std.Pipe(s1, s2, closeWait)
 
 	// handles transport layer errors
 	if err1 != nil && err1 != io.EOF {
diff --git a/std/copy.go b/std/copy.go
index f5ed66bc1..7420a5768 100644
--- a/std/copy.go
+++ b/std/copy.go
@@ -29,8 +29,7 @@ import (
 )
 
 const (
-	bufSize   = 4096
-	closeWait = 30 // secs
+	bufSize = 4096
 )
 
 // Memory optimized io.Copy function specified for this library
@@ -51,7 +50,7 @@ func Copy(dst io.Writer, src io.Reader) (written int64, err error) {
 }
 
 // Pipe create a general bidirectional pipe between two streams
-func Pipe(alice, bob io.ReadWriteCloser, isPassive bool) (errA, errB error) {
+func Pipe(alice, bob io.ReadWriteCloser, closeWait int) (errA, errB error) {
 	var closed sync.Once
 
 	var wg sync.WaitGroup
@@ -60,10 +59,8 @@ func Pipe(alice, bob io.ReadWriteCloser, isPassive bool) (errA, errB error) {
 	streamCopy := func(dst io.Writer, src io.ReadCloser, err *error) {
 		// write error directly to the *pointer
 		_, *err = Copy(dst, src)
-
-		// wait for a constant time before closing the streams
-		if isPassive {
-			<-time.After(closeWait * time.Second)
+		if closeWait > 0 {
+			<-time.After(time.Duration(closeWait) * time.Second)
 		}
 
 		// wg.Done() called