diff -r 323c10701e5d Lib/smtplib.py
--- a/Lib/smtplib.py	Sat Dec 12 07:16:33 2015 +0000
+++ b/Lib/smtplib.py	Sun Dec 13 01:05:47 2015 +0100
@@ -241,7 +241,6 @@
         will be used.
 
         """
-        self._host = host
         self.timeout = timeout
         self.esmtp_features = {}
         self.command_encoding = 'ascii'
@@ -316,6 +315,7 @@
         specified during instantiation.
 
         """
+        self._host =  host
 
         if source_address:
             self.source_address = source_address