You try to touch low level HTTP with Python, and once you dive into both RFC2616 and Python deep enough, your brain is cooked, basically. Look at what happened to the author of requests, a textbook example.

Or maybe it is that your brain is cooked already, or is on the brink, and your condition attracts you to HTTP and Python, after which it basically has you.

The only way to not go bonkers is to design a library by commitee, so that the disease spreads evenly and doesn't hit any one individual with full force. The result will be ugly, but hopefully free of drama.