Thanks for the comments stik and Tom! I'm slanting towards option #1 it looks like. I did go out today and get the aluminum tubing I needed from HL.
Here's how it looks right out of the package..
So I cut a section and chucked it up in the Makita drill, grabbed some steel wool and went to town...........
After the steel wool treatment I grabbed some Novus #2 and a polishing cloth. I dabbed some Novus on the polishing cloth and spun the drill up again on a low/ medium speed to polish the "tips" up. Here we are now with some nice exhaust tips. You can see the contrast between the side that was chucked up in the drill and the polished part. I'm happy!
