reuse handles in PHP/CURL works - Kirk Hedden told us

  7.3 Can I perform multiple requests using the same handle?

  With libcurl you can. With PHP/CURL you cannot. This is a limitation in the

  PHP/CURL code. Therefore, you need to close each handle after each request

  and create a new one for the following one.

  Yes - at least in PHP version 4.3.8 and later (this has been known to not

  work in earlier versions, but the exact version when it started to work is

  unknown to me).

  I've heard rumours that this situation has been fixed in PHP5, but that is

  unconfirmed.

  After a transfer, you just set new options in the handle and make another

  transfer. This will make libcurl to re-use the same connection if it can.