Kiefer Wolfowitz 

If it's true that you have made the "only if I'm allowed to bring a lighter." about Kiefer Wolfowitz (I have no interest whatsoever in going on IRC myself, but the reports that you said this seem reliable), then you are very lucky that this channel is technically off-wiki. Some "jokes" are in such incredibly poor taste and so offensive that they are bound to get a very negative reaction when the subject hears them. 

From WP:NPA#Off-wiki attacks: "Wikipedia cannot regulate behavior in media not under the control of the Wikimedia Foundation, but personal attacks made elsewhere create doubt about the good faith of an editor's on-wiki actions. Posting personal attacks or defamation off-Wikipedia is harmful to the community and to an editor's relationship with it, especially when such attacks take the form of violating an editor's privacy. Such attacks can be regarded as aggravating factors by administrators and are admissible evidence in the dispute-resolution process, including Arbitration cases."

And from Wikipedia:IRC#How is Wikipedia IRC related to Wikipedia?: "When the channels are used to attack Wikipedians,[...] the resulting atmosphere is very damaging to the project's collaborative relationships."

Since the subject of your remark is not able to reply on the IRC channel, he made the wrong decision and replied on-wiki with an unacceptable but understandable reply. As could be predicted, he received a long block while you came of without even a warning (at least here, who knows what has been said on IRC or elsewhere), strengthening the belief that some editors have more rights than others and that admins are free to do as they please. To correct this a bit, I have unblocked him and issue this warning here. Further similar remarks, even when on IRC, will get you blocked for personal attacks.