diff --git a/Lib/smtplib.py b/Lib/smtplib.py
--- a/Lib/smtplib.py
+++ b/Lib/smtplib.py
@@ -752,9 +752,10 @@
 
         def _get_socket(self, host, port, timeout):
             if self.debuglevel > 0: print>>stderr, 'connect:', (host, port)
-            self.sock = socket.create_connection((host, port), timeout)
-            self.sock = ssl.wrap_socket(self.sock, self.keyfile, self.certfile)
+            sock = socket.create_connection((host, port), timeout)
+            sock = ssl.wrap_socket(sock, self.keyfile, self.certfile)
             self.file = SSLFakeFile(self.sock)
+            return sock
 
     __all__.append("SMTP_SSL")