I have loaded Hodfdon powder and I like it, but you are asking the wrong question. What caliber and bullet weight are you wanting to load? Hodgdon makes several powders and each is suitable for a limited number of calibers depending on the specifics.
Hodgdon Powder Company was created in 1966.
H414 powder is made by Hodgdon Powder Company.
If you were to go to hodgdon,s web site there is a site entitled load data.Just pick the caliber first,then the bullet weight,then the powder maker,the site will show you the starting load in grains for the powder you choose and the max powder charge in grains also.Good luck!
burning powder
Burning powder
900 grain jacketed bullet 158gr Hodgdon 4831 powder
The founder, Bruce Hogdon, became fully committed to his powder company in 1952; at that time, it was called B.E. Hogdon, Incorporated. The actual company was formally established in 1966 under the name Hogdon Powder Company, with the help of Bruce's two sons J.B. and Bob Hogdon.
I'm not sure what you mean by "truest" smokeless powder. If you mean "which powder will emit the least amount of smoke when you shoot" then answer isn't that easy. The amount of smoke depends on the conditions of combustion such as burning rate, chamber pressure and quantity of powder. A small quantity of fast burning powder would emit less smoke than a large amount of slow burning powder. If the goal is to find the load for a given caliber that will smoke least, in general you should look for the fastest burning powder that is recommended for loading that caliber and bullet weight.
When it burns, as hot as a burning match.
If you do sniff propel powder you will have VERY intense burning in your nose, I've had people tell me all about it.
powder
Burning powder, shot cups, shot wads.