PORTLAND — Maine is now home to the first New England Bureau of the American Mustache Institute, thanks to a Farmington native who has been campaigning to bring back the art of and respect for well-groomed facial hair.

Mt. Blue High School graduate Dr. Lou Jacobs, who has a chiropractic and acupuncture practice in Portland, has added a new distinction to his list of achievements and degrees: He is now the regional administrator of the lighthearted organization that highlights the success and the discrimination against mustached Americans. The institute is located in St. Louis, Mo.

Jacobs, whose mother, Patricia, of Farmington, died last May of inflammatory breast cancer, started growing and grooming his own handlebar mustache before her diagnoses and has not cut it off since.

“At first, I grew it as a joke, and Mom thought it was funny,” he said in an earlier interview. “She kidded around and said she would have preferred I had been a clown rather than a chiropractor.”

Shortly after his mother died, his father, Dr. Bert Jacobs, was diagnosed with leukemia.

It was then Lou Jacobs came up with the idea of sponsoring a mustache-growing, fundraising challenge to help the Cancer Community Center in South Portland, where he is on the advisory board.

With minimal planning and no budget, “My Stache Fights Cancer” took off.

Media stories were done, Jacobs promoted it on Facebook and his blog, and guys started signing up at www.mystachefightscancer.com, committing to growing a mustache — from scratch — by Jan. 1, 2011. Funds were raised through pledges and sponsors.

“We raised over $3,000 without much planning on my part,” he said. “I was very pleased with the way it went and the response. I plan to do it again and anticipate this time it will raise a lot more. Donations came in from across the country, and people were very generous.”

The challenge this time will be to market it to the thousands of guys toying with the idea of growing a “lip sweater” and those who already sport their own ‘stache model, Jacobs said.

“There are a lot of guys who would totally be into this,” he said.

He hopes his new status as chairman of the institutes’s first and only bureau will give him some clout and coverage.

“What I like about the American Mustache Institute is that they are good guys and donate a lot of money to good causes. When I told them they needed a New England bureau, they agreed and said, ‘You’re in charge,’” he said.

Jacobs’ responsibility will be to connect mustached Mainers and others from New England and provide a forum for camaraderie, support, success and respect, he said.

“The mustache culture is really taking off. Everywhere you look, there are guys with mustaches, and people are always stopping me on the street to ask about mine,” he said.

Jacobs, with his meticulously waxed and curled handlebar, was a finalist for the Institute’s 2010 Robert Goulet Mustached American of the Year Award. While he did not win, he placed well, he said.

The humorous side of mustaches as well as information on their growth, care and culture can be found at the organization’s website (www.americanmustacheinstitute.org) and on Facebook.