diff --git a/tests/compose.spec.ts b/tests/compose.spec.ts
index 17cb325..f05a248 100644
--- a/tests/compose.spec.ts
+++ b/tests/compose.spec.ts
@@ -6,9 +6,20 @@ import { performance } from "perf_hooks";
 
 test.cb("compose() chains two streams together in the correct order", t => {
     t.plan(3);
+    interface Chunk {
+        visited: number[];
+        key: string;
+    }
+
     let i = 0;
-    const first = map((chunk: number) => chunk + 1);
-    const second = map((chunk: number) => chunk * 2);
+    const first = map((chunk: Chunk) => {
+        chunk.visited.push(1);
+        return chunk;
+    });
+    const second = map((chunk: Chunk) => {
+        chunk.visited.push(2);
+        return chunk;
+    });
 
     const composed = compose(
         [first, second],
@@ -16,7 +27,7 @@ test.cb("compose() chains two streams together in the correct order", t => {
     );
 
     composed.on("data", data => {
-        expect(data).to.equal(result[i]);
+        expect(data).to.deep.equal(result[i]);
         t.pass();
         i++;
         if (i === 3) {
@@ -30,59 +41,82 @@ test.cb("compose() chains two streams together in the correct order", t => {
         t.end();
     });
 
-    const input = [1, 2, 3];
-    const result = [4, 6, 8];
+    const input = [
+        { key: "a", visited: [] },
+        { key: "b", visited: [] },
+        { key: "c", visited: [] },
+    ];
+    const result = [
+        { key: "a", visited: [1, 2] },
+        { key: "b", visited: [1, 2] },
+        { key: "c", visited: [1, 2] },
+    ];
 
     input.forEach(item => composed.write(item));
 });
 
-test.cb(
-    "compose() followed by pipe chains streams together in the correct order",
-    t => {
-        t.plan(3);
-        let i = 0;
-        const first = map((chunk: number) => chunk + 1);
-        const second = map((chunk: number) => chunk * 2);
+test.cb("piping compose() maintains correct order", t => {
+    t.plan(3);
+    interface Chunk {
+        visited: number[];
+        key: string;
+    }
+    let i = 0;
+    const first = map((chunk: Chunk) => {
+        chunk.visited.push(1);
+        return chunk;
+    });
+    const second = map((chunk: Chunk) => {
+        chunk.visited.push(2);
+        return chunk;
+    });
 
-        const composed = compose(
-            [first, second],
-            { objectMode: true },
-        );
-        const third = map((chunk: number) => chunk + 1);
-        composed.pipe(third).on("data", data => {
-            expect(data).to.equal(result[i]);
-            t.pass();
-            i++;
-            if (i === 3) {
-                t.end();
-            }
-        });
+    const composed = compose(
+        [first, second],
+        { objectMode: true },
+    );
+    const third = map((chunk: Chunk) => {
+        chunk.visited.push(3);
+        return chunk;
+    });
 
-        composed.on("error", err => {
-            t.end(err);
-        });
+    composed.pipe(third).on("data", data => {
+        expect(data).to.deep.equal(result[i]);
+        t.pass();
+        i++;
+        if (i === 3) {
+            t.end();
+        }
+    });
 
-        const input = [1, 2, 3];
-        const result = [5, 7, 9];
+    composed.on("error", err => {
+        t.end(err);
+    });
 
-        input.forEach(item => composed.write(item));
-    },
-);
+    const input = [
+        { key: "a", visited: [] },
+        { key: "b", visited: [] },
+        { key: "c", visited: [] },
+    ];
+    const result = [
+        { key: "a", visited: [1, 2, 3] },
+        { key: "b", visited: [1, 2, 3] },
+        { key: "c", visited: [1, 2, 3] },
+    ];
 
-test.cb(
-    "compose() should emit drain event after 1 second when first stream is bottleneck",
-    t => {
-        t.plan(6);
-        let passedBottleneck = 0;
+    input.forEach(item => composed.write(item));
+});
+
+test("compose() writable length should be less than highWaterMark when handing writes", async t => {
+    t.plan(7);
+    return new Promise(async (resolve, reject) => {
         interface Chunk {
-            index: number;
-            mapped: string[];
+            key: string;
+            mapped: number[];
         }
         const first = map(
             async (chunk: Chunk) => {
-                await sleep(200);
-                passedBottleneck++;
-                chunk.mapped.push("first");
+                chunk.mapped.push(1);
                 return chunk;
             },
             {
@@ -92,7 +126,141 @@ test.cb(
 
         const second = map(
             async (chunk: Chunk) => {
-                chunk.mapped.push("second");
+                chunk.mapped.push(2);
+                return chunk;
+            },
+            { objectMode: true },
+        );
+
+        const composed = compose(
+            [first, second],
+            { objectMode: true, highWaterMark: 2 },
+        );
+        composed.on("error", err => {
+            reject();
+        });
+
+        composed.on("drain", () => {
+            t.pass();
+            expect(composed._writableState.length).to.be.equal(0);
+        });
+
+        composed.on("data", (chunk: Chunk) => {
+            if (chunk.key === "e") {
+                resolve();
+            }
+        });
+
+        const input = [
+            { key: "a", mapped: [] },
+            { key: "b", mapped: [] },
+            { key: "c", mapped: [] },
+            { key: "d", mapped: [] },
+            { key: "e", mapped: [] },
+        ];
+
+        for (const item of input) {
+            const res = composed.write(item);
+            expect(composed._writableState.length).to.be.at.most(2);
+            t.pass();
+            if (!res) {
+                await sleep(10);
+            }
+        }
+    });
+});
+
+test("compose() should emit drain event ~rate * highWaterMark ms for every write that causes backpressure", async t => {
+    t.plan(7);
+    const _rate = 25;
+    return new Promise(async (resolve, reject) => {
+        interface Chunk {
+            key: string;
+            mapped: number[];
+        }
+        const first = map(
+            async (chunk: Chunk) => {
+                await sleep(_rate);
+                chunk.mapped.push(1);
+                return chunk;
+            },
+            {
+                objectMode: true,
+            },
+        );
+
+        const second = map(
+            async (chunk: Chunk) => {
+                chunk.mapped.push(2);
+                return chunk;
+            },
+            { objectMode: true },
+        );
+
+        const composed = compose(
+            [first, second],
+            { objectMode: true, highWaterMark: 2 },
+        );
+        composed.on("error", err => {
+            reject();
+        });
+
+        composed.on("drain", () => {
+            t.pass();
+            expect(composed._writableState.length).to.be.equal(0);
+            expect(performance.now() - start).to.be.greaterThan(_rate);
+        });
+
+        composed.on("data", (chunk: Chunk) => {
+            if (chunk.key === "e") {
+                resolve();
+            }
+        });
+
+        const input = [
+            { key: "a", mapped: [] },
+            { key: "b", mapped: [] },
+            { key: "c", mapped: [] },
+            { key: "d", mapped: [] },
+            { key: "e", mapped: [] },
+        ];
+
+        let start = performance.now();
+        for (const item of input) {
+            const res = composed.write(item);
+            expect(composed._writableState.length).to.be.at.most(2);
+            t.pass();
+            if (!res) {
+                start = performance.now();
+                await sleep(100);
+            }
+        }
+    });
+});
+
+test.cb(
+    "compose() should emit drain event after 500 ms when writing 5 items that take 100ms to process with a highWaterMark of 5 ",
+    t => {
+        t.plan(6);
+        const _rate = 100;
+        interface Chunk {
+            key: string;
+            mapped: number[];
+        }
+        const first = map(
+            async (chunk: Chunk) => {
+                await sleep(_rate);
+                chunk.mapped.push(1);
+                return chunk;
+            },
+            {
+                objectMode: true,
+            },
+        );
+
+        const second = map(
+            async (chunk: Chunk) => {
+                chunk.mapped.push(2);
                 return chunk;
             },
             { objectMode: true },
@@ -106,33 +274,28 @@ test.cb(
             t.end(err);
         });
 
-        composed.on("drain", err => {
+        composed.on("drain", () => {
             expect(composed._writableState.length).to.be.equal(0);
-            expect(performance.now() - start).to.be.greaterThan(1000);
+            expect(performance.now() - start).to.be.greaterThan(
+                _rate * input.length,
+            );
             t.pass();
         });
 
         composed.on("data", (chunk: Chunk) => {
-            // Since first is bottleneck, composed accumulates until cb is executed in first. Therefore buffer should contain 4, 3, 2, 1 then 0 elements
-            expect(composed._writableState.length).to.be.equal(
-                input.length - passedBottleneck,
-            );
-            expect(chunk.mapped.length).to.equal(2);
-            expect(chunk.mapped).to.deep.equal(["first", "second"]);
             t.pass();
-            if (chunk.index === 5) {
+            if (chunk.key === "e") {
                 t.end();
             }
         });
 
         const input = [
-            { index: 1, mapped: [] },
-            { index: 2, mapped: [] },
-            { index: 3, mapped: [] },
-            { index: 4, mapped: [] },
-            { index: 5, mapped: [] },
+            { key: "a", mapped: [] },
+            { key: "b", mapped: [] },
+            { key: "c", mapped: [] },
+            { key: "d", mapped: [] },
+            { key: "e", mapped: [] },
         ];
-
         input.forEach(item => {
             composed.write(item);
         });
@@ -177,7 +340,7 @@ test.cb(
             t.end(err);
         });
 
-        composed.on("drain", err => {
+        composed.on("drain", () => {
             expect(composed._writableState.length).to.be.equal(0);
             expect(performance.now() - start).to.be.lessThan(100);
             t.pass();
@@ -275,3 +438,65 @@ test.cb(
         });
     },
 );
+
+test.cb(
+    "compose() should not emit drain event writing 5 items to compose with a highWaterMark of 6",
+    t => {
+        t.plan(5);
+        const _rate = 100;
+        interface Chunk {
+            key: string;
+            mapped: number[];
+        }
+        const first = map(
+            async (chunk: Chunk) => {
+                await sleep(_rate);
+                chunk.mapped.push(1);
+                return chunk;
+            },
+            {
+                objectMode: true,
+            },
+        );
+
+        const second = map(
+            async (chunk: Chunk) => {
+                chunk.mapped.push(2);
+                return chunk;
+            },
+            { objectMode: true },
+        );
+
+        const composed = compose(
+            [first, second],
+            { objectMode: true, highWaterMark: 6 },
+        );
+
+        composed.on("error", err => {
+            t.end(err);
+        });
+
+        composed.on("drain", () => {
+            t.end(new Error("Drain should not be emitted"));
+        });
+
+        composed.on("data", (chunk: Chunk) => {
+            t.pass();
+            if (chunk.key === "e") {
+                t.end();
+            }
+        });
+
+        const input = [
+            { key: "a", mapped: [] },
+            { key: "b", mapped: [] },
+            { key: "c", mapped: [] },
+            { key: "d", mapped: [] },
+            { key: "e", mapped: [] },
+        ];
+
+        input.forEach(item => {
+            composed.write(item);
+        });
+    },
+);