diff --git a/Library/Homebrew/test/utils_spec.rb b/Library/Homebrew/test/utils_spec.rb
index 314c299a8f..dd7ea20de9 100644
--- a/Library/Homebrew/test/utils_spec.rb
+++ b/Library/Homebrew/test/utils_spec.rb
@@ -189,7 +189,13 @@ describe "globally-scoped helper methods" do
 
   specify "#which_editor" do
     ENV["HOMEBREW_EDITOR"] = "vemate"
-    expect(which_editor).to eq("vemate")
+    ENV["HOMEBREW_PATH"] = dir
+
+    editor = dir/"vemate"
+    FileUtils.touch editor
+    FileUtils.chmod 0755, editor
+
+    expect(which_editor).to eql editor
   end
 
   specify "#gzip" do
diff --git a/Library/Homebrew/utils.rb b/Library/Homebrew/utils.rb
index 46a8cc68e0..7a14916e1c 100644
--- a/Library/Homebrew/utils.rb
+++ b/Library/Homebrew/utils.rb
@@ -320,8 +320,8 @@ def which_all(cmd, path = ENV["PATH"])
 end
 
 def which_editor
-  editor = ENV.values_at("HOMEBREW_EDITOR", "VISUAL", "EDITOR").compact.first
-  return editor unless editor.nil?
+  editor = ENV.values_at("HOMEBREW_EDITOR", "VISUAL").compact.first
+  return which(editor, ENV["HOMEBREW_PATH"]) unless editor.nil?
 
   # Find Textmate
   editor = "mate" if which "mate"
@@ -334,7 +334,7 @@ def which_editor
 
   opoo <<-EOS.undent
     Using #{editor} because no editor was set in the environment.
-    This may change in the future, so we recommend setting EDITOR, VISUAL,
+    This may change in the future, so we recommend setting EDITOR,
     or HOMEBREW_EDITOR to your preferred text editor.
   EOS
 
diff --git a/bin/brew b/bin/brew
index 43a807c7b2..84be2fb1d7 100755
--- a/bin/brew
+++ b/bin/brew
@@ -44,6 +44,14 @@ fi
 
 HOMEBREW_LIBRARY="$HOMEBREW_REPOSITORY/Library"
 
+for VAR in EDITOR PATH
+do
+  VAR_NEW="HOMEBREW_${VAR}"
+  # TODO: find a better solution than this.
+  env | grep -q "$VAR_NEW" && continue
+  export "$VAR_NEW"="${!VAR}"
+done
+
 if [[ -n "$HOMEBREW_ENV_FILTERING" ]]
 then
   PATH="/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin"