Poudre B

Poudre B was the first practical smokeless gunpowder on old earth. It was perfected between 1882 AD and 1884 AD at the Laboratoire Central des Poudres et Salpetres in Paris, France.

Originally called "Poudre V", from the name of the inventor, Paul Vieille, it was arbitrarily renamed "Poudre B" (short for poudre blanche -- white powder, as distinguished from black powder) to distract German espionage. "Poudre B" is made from 68.2% insoluble nitrocellulose, 29.8% soluble nitrocellusose gelatinized with ether and 2% paraffin. "Poudre B" is made up of very small paper-thin flakes that are not white but dark greenish grey in colour.