diff --git a/core/commands/block.go b/core/commands/block.go
index 69b2c77d3..3b195d9f6 100644
--- a/core/commands/block.go
+++ b/core/commands/block.go
@@ -121,10 +121,10 @@ var blockPutCmd = &cmds.Command{
 		Tagline: "Store input as an IPFS block.",
 		ShortDescription: `
 'ipfs block put' is a plumbing command for storing raw IPFS blocks.
-It reads from stdin, and <key> is a base58 encoded multihash.
+It reads from stdin, and outputs the block's CID to stdout.
 
-By default CIDv0 is going to be generated. Setting 'mhtype' to anything other
-than 'sha2-256' or format to anything other than 'v0' will result in CIDv1.
+Unless specified, this command returns dag-pb CIDv0 CIDs. Setting 'mhtype' to anything
+other than 'sha2-256' or format to anything other than 'v0' will result in CIDv1.
 `,
 	},
 
diff --git a/core/coreapi/block.go b/core/coreapi/block.go
index 79b89ed02..2a371b904 100644
--- a/core/coreapi/block.go
+++ b/core/coreapi/block.go
@@ -56,6 +56,9 @@ func (api *BlockAPI) Put(ctx context.Context, src io.Reader, opts ...caopts.Bloc
 
 	if settings.Pin {
 		api.pinning.PinWithMode(b.Cid(), pin.Recursive)
+		if err := api.pinning.Flush(); err != nil {
+			return nil, err
+		}
 	}
 
 	return &BlockStat{path: path.IpldPath(b.Cid()), size: len(data)}, nil