use strict;
use warnings;

use List::Util qw{ pairs };
use Data::Dumper;

my $dbStr =
   q{special:1001:area_code:617|special:1001:zip_code:02205|special:1001:dow:0|special:1001:tod:14};

my $rhRes = {
   map   { @{ $_ } }
   grep  { $_->[ 0 ] ne q{special} }
   pairs split m{\||:}, $dbStr
   };

print Data::Dumper->Dumpxs( [ $rhRes ], [ qw{ rhRes } ] );