diff --git a/pkg/yqlib/csv_test.go b/pkg/yqlib/csv_test.go
index b56f9aea54..a9310c7ec1 100644
--- a/pkg/yqlib/csv_test.go
+++ b/pkg/yqlib/csv_test.go
@@ -186,6 +186,20 @@ var csvScenarios = []formatScenario{
 		expected:       expectedYamlFromCSVNoParsing,
 		scenarioType:   "decode-csv-no-auto",
 	},
+	{
+		description:  "values starting with #, no auto parse",
+		skipDoc:      true,
+		input:        "value\n#ffff",
+		expected:     "- value: '#ffff'\n",
+		scenarioType: "decode-csv-no-auto",
+	},
+	{
+		description:  "values starting with #",
+		skipDoc:      true,
+		input:        "value\n#ffff",
+		expected:     "- value: #ffff\n",
+		scenarioType: "decode-csv",
+	},
 	{
 		description:  "Scalar roundtrip",
 		skipDoc:      true,
diff --git a/pkg/yqlib/decoder_csv_object.go b/pkg/yqlib/decoder_csv_object.go
index 6273fcbb92..21eb136987 100644
--- a/pkg/yqlib/decoder_csv_object.go
+++ b/pkg/yqlib/decoder_csv_object.go
@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@ func (dec *csvObjectDecoder) convertToNode(content string) *CandidateNode {
 	node, err := parseSnippet(content)
 	// if we're not auto-parsing, then we wont put in parsed objects or arrays
 	// but we still parse scalars
-	if err != nil || (!dec.prefs.AutoParse && node.Kind != ScalarNode) {
+	if err != nil || (!dec.prefs.AutoParse && (node.Kind != ScalarNode || node.Value != content)) {
 		return createScalarNode(content, content)
 	}
 	return node
diff --git a/pkg/yqlib/lib.go b/pkg/yqlib/lib.go
index d0c81cbc0e..155619307b 100644
--- a/pkg/yqlib/lib.go
+++ b/pkg/yqlib/lib.go
@@ -95,10 +95,20 @@ func parseSnippet(value string) (*CandidateNode, error) {
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, err
 	}
+
+	if result.Kind == ScalarNode {
+		result.LineComment = result.LeadingContent
+	} else {
+		result.HeadComment = result.LeadingContent
+	}
+	result.LeadingContent = ""
+
 	if result.Tag == "!!str" {
 		// use the original string value, as
 		// decoding drops new lines
-		return createScalarNode(value, value), nil
+		newNode := createScalarNode(value, value)
+		newNode.LineComment = result.LineComment
+		return newNode, nil
 	}
 	result.Line = 0
 	result.Column = 0
diff --git a/pkg/yqlib/lib_test.go b/pkg/yqlib/lib_test.go
index d87980e734..60fdee0190 100644
--- a/pkg/yqlib/lib_test.go
+++ b/pkg/yqlib/lib_test.go
@@ -62,6 +62,16 @@ var parseSnippetScenarios = []parseSnippetScenario{
 			Column: 0,
 		},
 	},
+	{
+		snippet: "# things",
+		expected: &CandidateNode{
+			Kind:        ScalarNode,
+			Tag:         "!!null",
+			LineComment: "# things",
+			Line:        0,
+			Column:      0,
+		},
+	},
 	{
 		snippet: "3.1",
 		expected: &CandidateNode{