I'm not sure if Horo from the Daz forums is a member here but when I needed something similar he pointed me at one of his excellent tutorials for a Bryce mdae posable, flexible pipe which might just be what you're looking for.  It's based on a very clever use of a Bryce path and metaballs.

Here's the link to the page on his website:

http://www.horo.ch/raytracing/tuts/online/tut10/minitut10_en.html

Regards,
Steve.