As seen [here](https://github.com/s0undt3ch/salt/blob/6b7424ea326d4fd92bf75b3aa92e4f58f5be5c07/salt/pillar/__init__.py#L279), the state to be returned get's a default value of `None`.

State only get's assigned another value [here](https://github.com/s0undt3ch/salt/blob/6b7424ea326d4fd92bf75b3aa92e4f58f5be5c07/salt/pillar/__init__.py#L279), **if** no exception occurs.

If an exception occurs, what's returned for state, is None.

So, if `pstate is not None`, then no exception was thrown, and:
```python
>>> from salt.utils.odict import OrderedDict
>>> d = OrderedDict()
>>> d[1] = 1
>>> d[2] = 2
>>> d
OrderedDict([(1, 1), (2, 2)])
>>> isinstance(d, dict)
True
>>> 
```