check out my post above I added some stuff. Bevel plus is the way to go. It can generate both poly and nurbs objects in a single step. You can control the poly density so there is no need to smooth. If you want to smooth then the nurbs version is smoothed, but I find I often have to play with nurbs render tessellation to much so I tend to always go with the poly version and rarely have to modify the default mesh density settings.
"If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants." Sir Isaac Newton, 1675