See, it's funny because boiling pure hydrochloric acid would be awful for the room's occupants.
Admittedly, though, pure hydrochloric acid has a boiling point of -85 C, so it's already a gas at room temperature.
The student might be boiling a solution of hydrochloric acid - which does create an awful smell, something I know from a lab that I do with my students each year in which they synthesize sodium chloride by mixing sodium carbonate and hydrochloric acid. Typically the acid is in excess, so when they boil away the water created, they usually get a very brief wiff of the chlorine gas at the end.
Ideally, it's a very small wiff.
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