Art lighters first came on the scene in the early 1990s. While living in the Bronx, a friend had a corner store and saw my lighters and thought they were great! He would give me a box of lighters to take home and paint then he would sell them. People began to like the lighters, and they started becoming my calling card. I was known as the "BOFF" lighter, Boff being my nickname, short for my last name Bonfiglio, and it became a name piece on the bottom of the lighter and also my artist name. People always tell me, "I still have your lighter, and it still works!" Art lighters last longer than the standard lighter simply because of the artistic coating.