diff --git a/src/mem/forward.h b/src/mem/forward.h
index 8a0b287fa14..ceebcc81bd6 100644
--- a/src/mem/forward.h
+++ b/src/mem/forward.h
@@ -39,6 +39,7 @@ typedef void FREE(void *);
 /// Types of memory pool which do not yet use MEMPROXY_CLASS() API
 typedef enum {
     MEM_NONE,
+    MEM_16B_BUF,
     MEM_32B_BUF,
     MEM_64B_BUF,
     MEM_128B_BUF,
@@ -53,7 +54,6 @@ typedef enum {
     MEM_64K_BUF,
     MEM_DREAD_CTRL,
     MEM_DWRITE_Q,
-    MEM_MD5_DIGEST,
     MEM_MAX
 } mem_type;
 
diff --git a/src/mem/old_api.cc b/src/mem/old_api.cc
index 461be27d02d..901b627b15a 100644
--- a/src/mem/old_api.cc
+++ b/src/mem/old_api.cc
@@ -27,6 +27,7 @@
 #include <iomanip>
 
 /* forward declarations */
+static void memFree16B(void *);
 static void memFree32B(void *);
 static void memFree64B(void *);
 static void memFree128B(void *);
@@ -140,7 +141,10 @@ memFindBufSizeType(size_t net_size, size_t * gross_size)
     mem_type type;
     size_t size;
 
-    if (net_size <= 32) {
+    if (net_size <= 16) {
+        type = MEM_16B_BUF;
+        size = 16;
+    } else if (net_size <= 32) {
         type = MEM_32B_BUF;
         size = 32;
     } else if (net_size <= 64) {
@@ -295,6 +299,7 @@ Mem::Init(void)
      * that are never used or used only once; perhaps we should simply use
      * malloc() for those? @?@
      */
+    memDataInit(MEM_16B_BUF, "16B Buffer", 16, 10, false);
     memDataInit(MEM_32B_BUF, "32B Buffer", 32, 10, false);
     memDataInit(MEM_64B_BUF, "64B Buffer", 64, 10, false);
     memDataInit(MEM_128B_BUF, "128B Buffer", 128, 10, false);
@@ -310,8 +315,6 @@ Mem::Init(void)
     // TODO: Carefully stop zeroing these objects memory and drop the doZero parameter
     memDataInit(MEM_DREAD_CTRL, "dread_ctrl", sizeof(dread_ctrl), 0, true);
     memDataInit(MEM_DWRITE_Q, "dwrite_q", sizeof(dwrite_q), 0, true);
-    memDataInit(MEM_MD5_DIGEST, "MD5 digest", SQUID_MD5_DIGEST_LENGTH, 0, true);
-    GetPool(MEM_MD5_DIGEST)->setChunkSize(512 * 1024);
 
     // Test that all entries are initialized
     for (auto t = MEM_NONE; ++t < MEM_MAX;) {
@@ -350,6 +353,12 @@ memInUse(mem_type type)
 
 /* ick */
 
+void
+memFree16B(void *p)
+{
+    memFree(p, MEM_16B_BUF);
+}
+
 void
 memFree32B(void *p)
 {
@@ -433,6 +442,9 @@ memFreeBufFunc(size_t size)
 {
     switch (size) {
 
+    case 16:
+        return memFree16B;
+
     case 32:
         return memFree32B;
 
diff --git a/src/store_key_md5.cc b/src/store_key_md5.cc
index b75d649ca75..2f98c6b840a 100644
--- a/src/store_key_md5.cc
+++ b/src/store_key_md5.cc
@@ -138,7 +138,7 @@ storeKeyPublicByRequestMethod(HttpRequest * request, const HttpRequestMethod& me
 cache_key *
 storeKeyDup(const cache_key * key)
 {
-    cache_key *dup = (cache_key *)memAllocate(MEM_MD5_DIGEST);
+    cache_key *dup = (cache_key *)memAllocBuf(SQUID_MD5_DIGEST_LENGTH, nullptr);
     memcpy(dup, key, SQUID_MD5_DIGEST_LENGTH);
     return dup;
 }
@@ -153,7 +153,7 @@ storeKeyCopy(cache_key * dst, const cache_key * src)
 void
 storeKeyFree(const cache_key * key)
 {
-    memFree((void *) key, MEM_MD5_DIGEST);
+    memFreeBuf(SQUID_MD5_DIGEST_LENGTH, const_cast<cache_key *>(key));
 }
 
 int