Steve Osborn, Leadership Coordinator, Oregon Board on Public Safety Standards and Training.
Black powder IS different than smokeless.
Unless you're a chemist, you're probably not interested in the chemical differences. Black powder loads different, shoots different, and cleans different than smokeless. Substitutes like Pyrodex are chemically altered, but load, shoot, and clean just like black powder. Your best bet is to get one of the great books on black powder cartridge loading like The Gun Digest Black Powder Loading Manual by Dr. Sam Fadala. Consider this book a must for your library.