my $foo = Foo->new1;
print $foo->{bar};

# here is the problem, Jim
#my $bar = $foo->new1;
#print $bar->{bar};

my $baz = $foo->new2;
print $baz->{bar};

package Foo;

sub new1 { bless { bar => 'baz' }, $_[0] }
sub new2 { bless { bar => 'baz' }, ref($_[0]) || $_[0] }