diff --git a/salt/files/master.d/f_defaults.conf b/salt/files/master.d/f_defaults.conf
index 39c0ad3..fac82fe 100644
--- a/salt/files/master.d/f_defaults.conf
+++ b/salt/files/master.d/f_defaults.conf
@@ -960,18 +960,23 @@ pillar_roots:
 
 {% if 'ext_pillar' in cfg_master %}
 {%- do default_keys.append('ext_pillar') %}
+{#- workaround for missing mapping test in CentOS 6, part A #}
+{%- set is_mapping = {} %}
 ext_pillar:
 {%- for pillar in cfg_master['ext_pillar'] -%}
   {%- for key in pillar -%}
     {%- if pillar[key] is string %}
   - {{ key }}: {{ pillar[key] }}
-    {%- elif pillar[key] is iterable and pillar[key] is not mapping %}
+    {#- workaround for missing mapping test in CentOS 6, part B #}
+    {%- do is_mapping.update({key: type(pillar[key]) == type({})}) %}
+    {%- elif pillar[key] is iterable and not is_mapping[key] %}
   - {{ key }}:
       {%- for parameter in pillar[key] %}
     - {{ parameter }}
       {%- endfor -%}
-    {%- elif pillar[key] is mapping and pillar[key] is not string %}
-  - {{ key }}:
+    {#- workaround for missing mapping test in CentOS 6, part C #}
+    {%- elif is_mapping[key] and pillar[key] is not string %}
+  - {{ key }}: 
       {%- for parameter in pillar[key] %}
       {{ parameter }}: {{pillar[key][parameter]}}
       {%- endfor %}