How can this be lost knowledge?
The literature is replete with black powder information.
It's difficult to believe that modern production black is in any way inferior to what was available pre-smokeless.
The chemistry is still the same, certainly we can still get the fuels to fully react with the oxidizer.
I would think that with modern chemical analysis the charcoal part (which is the critical part) could be much better controlled today than then.
Personally, I cook steaks with charcoal and shoot with nitro.
