I grind my own pepper too, but #16 aka coarse ground is much larger pieces of ground pepper. #16 is the die size. You technically could grind it coarse yourself, but you'd have to sift it and only keep the bigger pieces. Here's an example: Amazon Brand - Happy Belly Black Pepper, Coarse Ground, 18 Oz https://a.co/d/8e7AWHT But you should be able to find it at any big grocery store. I get it at Costco. It's great for rubs and spicing up stuff just a bit. I think it's the oil that remains in the course pieces as opposed to the smaller grind that allows the oil tooxidize quickly, which mutes the heat in the oil. I learned about it when I got into smoking meat. It's used to crust a smoked brisket.