A tube _drawing_ is easier to understand if you orient the longest straight piece with the drawing's coordinate system. Then you can dimension the ends relative to the coordinate system and any tertiary datum along that length of tube.
There are also good reasons for orienting the part relative to one end, or the extreme tangent of one end, which is what I think you need in order to program a CNC bender.
Third choice, sometimes the least awful, is to use the coordinate system of the assembly into which the tube fits as your datum coordinate system. This can get messy fast because in the general case every important point requires three linear dimensions and three angles.
The best datums, IMHO, are not imaginary like centerlines, and not arbitrary like tube walls at particular planes, but are the actual features at which the tube touches the remainder of the world, e.g. flange faces and holes in hanging features.
Mike Halloran
NOT speaking for
DeAngelo Marine Exhaust Inc.
Ft. Lauderdale, FL, USA