The League

"I believe that pipe smoking contributes to a somewhat calm and objective judgment in all human affairs." - Albert Einstein
“Once, a well-attired, well-groomed, well-spoken man could enjoy a fine puff of pipe tobacco in any local bar, and be regarded not as a mere dilettante, but rather, for what he was: a true and fine gentleman. Those days are gone. The fine art of tobacco pipe smoking has sadly waned in popularity and acceptance in recent decades, and with it have departed all those upstanding values and fine qualities of gentlemanly civility that made this glorious nation great. What these have been replaced with is a poorly cultivated and ill-defined “street culture” which champions the basest, most amoral and unrefined of savage non-values in all sectors of society. We of The Denver Gentlemen’s Pipe Smoking League believe this to be an affront to all that is right, true, and noble, and it is our mission to bring back the lost art of pipe smoking to all sectors of public life, and with it, a return to civility, class, character, and all the virtuous and noble gentlemanly qualities of yore.
As most decent readers are surely well aware, many once-proud Denver bars no longer allow the smoking of pipes – yet they’ll suffer the cacophonous street “music” and unkempt, disheveled unsightliness of miscreant hoodlums who act without compunction and bring naught but incivility and its attendant amoral chaos. We declare this to be an outrage! An atrocity! And we will suffer it no more!
It is our contention that the appalling, insufferably discombobulated state Western civilization is in today – its corpulent sissification and steady decline in all that which was once grand and noble – is due in no small part to the rising tide of unrestrained debauchery and abject licentiousness in all areas of public life, which natural accompanies any departure from refined, civilized, gentlemanly values; namely, pipe smoking. Thus, the tobacco pipe – a symbol of fine, stout, hearty, gentlemanly values and civility – is what we believe is required to bring about a new renaissance of high culture, and return Western civilization to the once proud state from whence it has fallen!
Smoke up, brothers, for the battle shall be a long and taxing one!”
– (excerpted from the grand charter of The Denver Gentlemen’s Pipe Smoking League, 1/1/06)
The Denver Gentlemen’s Pipe Smoking League was founded on January 1st, 2006 by Frank K. Rich and Brian M. Clark , as the first and only men’s pipe smoking club in the fine and proud state of Colorado. The League meets on a bi-monthly basis at local bars, where its members carouse amid the fumes of assorted exotic and domestic tobacco blends and finer liqueurs, and discuss all things civil and gentlemanly. Members are expected to attire themselves according to classic style, conform to edicts of gentlemanly conduct, arrive promptly at the agreed upon meeting place, and supply their own pipes and tobaccos. Members are encouraged to bring a new variety of tobacco each meeting, allowing other members to taste, sample, and exchange blends, like gentlemen of course.
Membership is by invitation only. Rapscallions, ne'er-do-wells, hoodlums and other assorted louts need not apply.
DGPSL interview for AZ Night Buzz:

"Men in top hats: League harkens back to a more civilized age"

Instructional pipe smoking pamphlets:

DGPSL pamphlet #1 (.PDF) DGPSL pamphlet #2 (.PDF)

Recommended websites:

Coalition For Equal Smokers Rights

Pen & Teller: Second-Hand Smoke...Bullshit!

The Organization of Online Pipe Smokers

The Chap (U.K.)

Modern Drunkard (U.S.)

Sherlock Holmes Pipe Club Of Boston (U.S.)

The Upper Crust (U.S.)

Mr. Manners (U.S.)