i came across this technique by chance , i was playing around with the bazier curve and suddenly i saw the option of bavel...well it basically spins the curve across the baveld object. So i spun a bazier curve along a bazier circle and Voila ! i got a pipe. By applying the material effects for glass in 2 minutes i had made a glass pipe. By using the Extrude option i could change the size and shape of the pipe. i am posting the image of the rendered file. I shall post the .blend file on yahoo groups once i make a better one.
here is the image 
posted by Gokul
regards
