diff --git a/lib/mixpanel-ruby/consumer.rb b/lib/mixpanel-ruby/consumer.rb
index 3078f66..006ec1c 100644
--- a/lib/mixpanel-ruby/consumer.rb
+++ b/lib/mixpanel-ruby/consumer.rb
@@ -183,7 +183,7 @@ class BufferedConsumer
     # the constructor, the *_endpoint constructor arguments are
     # ignored.
     def initialize(events_endpoint=nil, update_endpoint=nil, import_endpoint=nil, max_buffer_length=MAX_LENGTH, &block)
-      @max_length = [max_buffer_length, MAX_LENGTH].min
+      @max_length = [max_buffer_length, MAX_LENGTH].max
       @buffers = {
         :event => [],
         :profile_update => [],
diff --git a/spec/mixpanel-ruby/consumer_spec.rb b/spec/mixpanel-ruby/consumer_spec.rb
index 941f256..2d024e9 100644
--- a/spec/mixpanel-ruby/consumer_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/mixpanel-ruby/consumer_spec.rb
@@ -104,6 +104,11 @@ def request(*args)
   context 'Default BufferedConsumer' do
     subject { Mixpanel::BufferedConsumer.new(nil, nil, nil, max_length) }
 
+    it 'should use the max for max_length' do
+      consumer = Mixpanel::BufferedConsumer.new(nil, nil, nil, 100)
+      expect(consumer.instance_variable_get(:@max_length)).to eq(100)
+    end
+
     it 'should not send a request for a single message until flush is called' do
       stub_request(:any, 'https://api.mixpanel.com/track').to_return({:body => '{"status": 1, "error": null}'})
       subject.send!(:event, {'data' => 'TEST EVENT 1'}.to_json)