diff -rup mutt-17a4f92e4a95-orig/init.h mutt-17a4f92e4a95/init.h
--- mutt-17a4f92e4a95-orig/init.h	2015-07-30 11:09:54.536930119 +0200
+++ mutt-17a4f92e4a95/init.h	2015-07-30 11:11:17.383772131 +0200
@@ -3092,7 +3092,7 @@ struct option_t MuttVars[] = {
   ** URL. You should only unset this for particular known hosts, using
   ** the \fC$<account-hook>\fP function.
   */
-  { "ssl_ciphers", DT_STR, R_NONE, UL &SslCiphers, UL 0 },
+  { "ssl_ciphers", DT_STR, R_NONE, UL &SslCiphers, UL "@SYSTEM" },
   /*
   ** .pp
   ** Contains a colon-seperated list of ciphers to use when using SSL.
--- mutt-17a4f92e4a95/mutt_ssl_gnutls.c.ssl_ciphers	2015-08-20 13:19:24.990481900 +0200
+++ mutt-17a4f92e4a95/mutt_ssl_gnutls.c	2015-08-20 14:37:18.405928684 +0200
@@ -286,32 +286,35 @@
   else
     safe_strcat (priority, priority_size, "NORMAL");
 
-  if (! option(OPTTLSV1_2))
+  if (SslCiphers && strcmp(SslCiphers, "@SYSTEM"))
   {
-    nproto--;
-    safe_strcat (priority, priority_size, ":-VERS-TLS1.2");
-  }
-  if (! option(OPTTLSV1_1))
-  {
-    nproto--;
-    safe_strcat (priority, priority_size, ":-VERS-TLS1.1");
-  }
-  if (! option(OPTTLSV1))
-  {
-    nproto--;
-    safe_strcat (priority, priority_size, ":-VERS-TLS1.0");
-  }
-  if (! option(OPTSSLV3))
-  {
-    nproto--;
-    safe_strcat (priority, priority_size, ":-VERS-SSL3.0");
-  }
+    if (! option(OPTTLSV1_2))
+    {
+      nproto--;
+      safe_strcat (priority, priority_size, ":-VERS-TLS1.2");
+    }
+    if (! option(OPTTLSV1_1))
+    {
+      nproto--;
+      safe_strcat (priority, priority_size, ":-VERS-TLS1.1");
+    }
+    if (! option(OPTTLSV1))
+    {
+      nproto--;
+      safe_strcat (priority, priority_size, ":-VERS-TLS1.0");
+    }
+    if (! option(OPTSSLV3))
+    {
+      nproto--;
+      safe_strcat (priority, priority_size, ":-VERS-SSL3.0");
+    }
 
-  if (nproto == 0)
-  {
-    mutt_error (_("All available protocols for TLS/SSL connection disabled"));
-    FREE (&priority);
-    return -1;
+    if (nproto == 0)
+    {
+      mutt_error (_("All available protocols for TLS/SSL connection disabled"));
+      FREE (&priority);
+      return -1;
+    }
   }
 
   if ((err = gnutls_priority_set_direct (data->state, priority, NULL)) < 0)