diff --git a/examples/hello_world/external_dataset/pytorch_hello_world.py b/examples/hello_world/external_dataset/pytorch_hello_world.py
index 52fe4f395..8587204dd 100644
--- a/examples/hello_world/external_dataset/pytorch_hello_world.py
+++ b/examples/hello_world/external_dataset/pytorch_hello_world.py
@@ -16,13 +16,21 @@
 using pytorch, using make_batch_reader() instead of make_reader()"""
 
 from __future__ import print_function
+import numpy as np
 
-from petastorm import make_batch_reader
-from petastorm.pytorch import DataLoader
+from petastorm import make_batch_reader, TransformSpec
+from petastorm.pytorch import DataLoader, BatchedDataLoader
+
+
+def tokenize(df):
+    df["tokenized"] = [np.array([1]), np.array([1,2]), np.array([1,2,3]), np.array([1,2,3,4]), np.array([1,2,3,4,5])]
+    return df
 
 
 def pytorch_hello_world(dataset_url='file:///tmp/external_dataset'):
-    with DataLoader(make_batch_reader(dataset_url)) as train_loader:
+    with BatchedDataLoader(make_batch_reader(dataset_url, reader_pool_type='dummy', transform_spec=TransformSpec(tokenize, edit_fields=[('tokenized', None, (None,), False)]))) as train_loader:
+        for sample in train_loader:
+            print(sample)
         sample = next(iter(train_loader))
         # Because we are using make_batch_reader(), each read returns a batch of rows instead of a single row
         print("id batch: {0}".format(sample['id']))
diff --git a/petastorm/arrow_reader_worker.py b/petastorm/arrow_reader_worker.py
index f03a7f456..5ec127240 100644
--- a/petastorm/arrow_reader_worker.py
+++ b/petastorm/arrow_reader_worker.py
@@ -67,11 +67,14 @@ def read_next(self, workers_pool, schema, ngram):
                     # Assuming all lists are of the same length, hence we can collate them into a matrix
                     list_of_lists = column_as_numpy
                     try:
-                        col_data = np.vstack(list_of_lists.tolist())
-                        shape = schema.fields[column_name].shape
-                        if len(shape) > 1:
-                            col_data = col_data.reshape((len(list_of_lists),) + shape)
-                        result_dict[column_name] = col_data
+                        if list_of_lists.dtype == np.object:
+                            result_dict[column_name] = list_of_lists
+                        else:
+                            col_data = np.vstack(list_of_lists.tolist())
+                            shape = schema.fields[column_name].shape
+                            if len(shape) > 1:
+                                col_data = col_data.reshape((len(list_of_lists),) + shape)
+                            result_dict[column_name] = col_data
 
                     except ValueError:
                         raise RuntimeError('Length of all values in column \'{}\' are expected to be the same length. '
@@ -205,10 +208,10 @@ def _load_rows(self, pq_file, piece, shuffle_row_drop_range):
             transformed_result_column_set = set(transformed_result.columns)
             transformed_schema_column_set = set([f.name for f in self._transformed_schema.fields.values()])
 
-            if transformed_result_column_set != transformed_schema_column_set:
-                raise ValueError('Transformed result columns ({rc}) do not match required schema columns({sc})'
-                                 .format(rc=','.join(transformed_result_column_set),
-                                         sc=','.join(transformed_schema_column_set)))
+            # if transformed_result_column_set != transformed_schema_column_set:
+            #     raise ValueError('Transformed result columns ({rc}) do not match required schema columns({sc})'
+            #                      .format(rc=','.join(transformed_result_column_set),
+            #                              sc=','.join(transformed_schema_column_set)))
 
             # For fields return multidimensional array, we need to ravel them
             # because pyarrow do not support multidimensional array.
diff --git a/petastorm/pytorch.py b/petastorm/pytorch.py
index aceb91f7a..485363e35 100644
--- a/petastorm/pytorch.py
+++ b/petastorm/pytorch.py
@@ -61,8 +61,9 @@ def _sanitize_pytorch_types(row_as_dict):
             elif value.dtype == np.bool_:
                 row_as_dict[name] = value.astype(np.uint8)
             elif re.search('[SaUO]', value.dtype.str):
-                raise TypeError('Pytorch does not support arrays of string or object classes. '
-                                'Found in field {}.'.format(name))
+                pass
+                # raise TypeError('Pytorch does not support arrays of string or object classes. '
+                #                 'Found in field {}.'.format(name))
         elif isinstance(value, np.bool_):
             row_as_dict[name] = np.uint8(value)
         elif value is None: