B&W photography has its own joys and challenges - some colour photos are good simply because of the colours - but with B&W you're left with shadows, tones, contours, shapes... It requires seeing with a different eye, especially with film because you won't know if you got the shot until you see the final image. The last B&W film I used a lot was the Ilford XP2-400. It's a C-41 process film that allows you to vary the ISO from 100-400 or thereabouts on the same roll so you have some latitude in exposure, and the grain is very fine. Panchromatic films are what most people think about when they think B&W (Kodak's Plus X or Tri X for example). Be aware that panchromatic films 'see' differently than your eye does. IIRC correctly it was often necessary to use a yellow filter when shooting panchromatic films in order to set the gray balance properly, but it's been a long time since I've used them.
Mike.