The Wombat File Is Yours to Keep

Another week has flown by -- with little here to entertain or edify. The usual excuses would only be tiresome, so before we get to this week's quiz, I'd like to offer a select list of more satisfying excuses than my usual blah blah about fatigue and family and "work" etc. Please be advised that these can also be applied to my failure to make any progress on the book this week. In no particular order:

• I'm busy preparing an elaborate meal of illegally imported ortolan.
  
• Caught in the grip of a giant clam. Should not have left apartment without dive knife in bookbag.
  
• Rockford Files Season 2 DVD set arrived on Monday. I haven't eaten or slept.
  
• I'm actually Neck Face; been out looking for a new place to do a really big, scary-looking arm.
  
• I was flying down to Rio, investigating a rumor about a silver mine left to me by my uncle.
  
• Been breathlessly awaiting Supreme Court's decision in Hamdan v. Rumsfeld. (Actually, that one's almost true.)
  
• Too much Boss. Thanks, Rory.
  
• Can't stop clogging.
  

In any event, there's been little enough here to command your attention -- so if you've returned today for the quiz, you have the Wombat's sincere appreciation. Let's get to it:

An Englishman named John Walker invented one version in 1827, which he called "congreves," but a similar invention was patented shortly thereafter, under a different name which lasted in Britain up through the First World War. In 1836, a Hungarian student, János Irinyi, invented a different version. He sold his innovation to a manufacturer named István Rómer for a small fee, and died penniless, while Rómer went on to tremendous success with the product.

However, all of these versions involved a substance whose use for this purpose was banned by more and more countries as time went on -- Finland in 1872; Denmark in 1874; Sweden in 1879; Switzerland in 1881 and Holland in 1901. The Berne Convention of 1906 committed signatories to similar actions, and Great Britain outlawed it by 1910. The U.S. did not -- but did impose a heavy tax on products which used the substance. China, however, didn't follow suit with laws against the substance until 1925.

What was the product? For a bonus point, what was the banned substance? For a double bonus point, what was the commercial name of product that beat out John Walker's "congreves"?

First correct answer posted to comments wins a large bucket full of discarded egg-timer sand, suitable for pouring out in melancholy gestures symbolic of the past's irretrievability. No Googling. No giggling. No making goo-goo eyes. And absolutely no Goo Goo Dolls, please. (You may, if you like, continue to read Barney Google, but I won't be held responsible). One guess (to each part of the question) per comment, but feel free to comment like it's 1999.